Why Don We Hear Folk Songs in Bollywood Films Nowadays?
By Ruchika Kher New Delhi There was a time when folk songs were part and parcel of Bollywood films, but now popular rustic tunes seem to have gone missing from movies even though composers are experimenting with different genres far more than they used to. One still remembers the melodious Bhojpuri number “Nain lad jayiye hai” from the 1961 film “Ganga Jamuna” and other folk songs like “Bichua” from “Madhumati” (1958), “Chalat musafir” in “Teesri Kasam” (1969) “Dil ka bhanwar” in “Tere Ghar Ke Samne” (1963) and “Ohre taal mile” from “Anokhi Raat” (1968). All these tracks were chartbusters. But the charm of folk songs gradually faded away and only once in a blue moon does one get to hear their influence in film music. Singer Shubha Mudgal rues that mainstream Hindi films don’t provide space for authentic folk music. “Once in a while, a film song features a short opening section or a choral section in a folk singer’s voice, but other than that folk music remains a musical reserve or bank
