Popular Hindi Film Song Sequences Set in the Indian Diaspora and the Negotiating of Indian Identity

Abstract

Many scholars and audiences consistently identify the song sequence and its in terruption of the narrative as the quintessential characteristic that distinguishes Indian popular cinema from other cinema traditions.1 Song sequences form a significant part of musical culture throughout South Asia2 where they indepen dently circulate as the mainstay of programming on Indian music video chan nels, as selections on compilation DVDs or VCDs, and as downloads from video sharing and entertainment-oriented websites. Furthermore, song sequences are often reenacted in professional live touring shows, and more amateur cultural functions and weddings. Although some viewers and critics are thrilled by spec tacularly choreographed song and dance sequences within films, others consider song sequences disruptive and extraneous to the film's central narrative.3 After I anonymously surveyed 46 regular viewers of Hindi films in April 2008,1 dis covered that only slightly more than half of these viewers will always watch the song sequences in the course of watching a film at home.4 The statistics for the other half of the group reveal the range in attitudes toward the song sequence's importance to a film. While approximately another 25 percent usually watch the sequences, 15-20 percent only watch song sequences half of the time or less, and an additional approximately 5 percent state that they always skip the song sequences. The relationship between a respective film's genre and its songs merits more attention. The responses to this survey indicate viewers are more likely to skip song sequences if the film is a comedy, action movie, or thriller, but a few viewers also regularly skip song sequences in the romance genre. The lack of consensus on the song sequences relationship (if any) to its film's narrative may explain why scholars have only begun to explore the film song se quence as a cinematic device that can play an integral role in the construction of a film's narrative.5 In recent years, many popular Hindi films featuring characters based in diasporic locations have been shot outside India, and I argue that the song sequences in these films play a particularly crucial role in the narrative. In