Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Music Videos to make you Cringe

As I vaguely mentioned in the post "Music Videos to Cherish", here is a post with some of my favorite songs that were brutally murdered on-screen. The short list of credits before each video tells you the artists (singers, music directors, lyricists) whose work was killed, those who are to blame (movie directors, choreographers) and the perhaps innocent and definitely ignorant victims (actors).

By far, the First prize goes to:

saaki saaki, from Musafir (2004)
singers: Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan
music director & lyricist: Anand Raj Anand
movie director: Sanjay Gupta
choreographer: unnamed, maybe he/she is hiding?
actors: Sanjay Dutt, Koena Mitra and a bunch of minions


Its like Sukhwinder poured out his soul only to have gold-toothed Sanjay Dutt laze about on a swarm of women and play with his pocket-knife while Koena Mitra has a seizure on the floor. Well, to be honest, the atmosphere is there: the set is intriguing and at times Koena does somewhat resemble the temptation of saaki. But while Sunidhi goads and teases Sukhwinder, Koena Mitra has a seizure on the floor. I can go on about this, but I won't of course, there are other videos to criticize yet.
~

The next song is downright painful to watch:

mind blowing mahiya, from Cash (2007)
singer: Sunidhi Chauhan
music director & lyricist: Vishal & Shekhar
movie director: Anubhav Sinha
choreographer: Remo and Rajeev Goswami
actors: Ajay Devgan, Shamita Shetty and a bunch of minions


I understand it must have been hard to get Shamita Shetty to dance, and Ajay Devgan to look good during his unfortunate just-shaved/sideburns phase, but still.. come on. This song could have been so much sexier. Bubbly idiot and intense walk don't go hand-in-hand, you know?
~

The next video won't make you cringe per say, it is actually a good one to watch for time-pass, so think of it like a break from the other Cringe-assured videos. Still, I fail to understand how it relates in any way to the amazing track playing in the background. It irks me, what could have been a heart-wrenching, tragic sequence, brilliantly wasted on this meaning-less walk down the runway:

mar jaawaan, from Fashion (2008)
singers: Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant
music director: Salim and Sulaiman Merchant
lyricist: Irfan Siddique
movie director: Madhur Bhandarkar
choreographer: unnamed
actors: Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut, among others


When compared to the catwalk on the track fashion ka jalwa, this song is ridiculously unsuited for this. I do have some complaints about the other video as well (as that too is one of my favorites, and it had a flare, thanks to Sukhwinder, that the video lacked) but it wasn't bad enough to put on this list. The second part of mar jaawaan is a little better filmed as there is some tragedy and drama involved when Priyanka walks down that ramp despite whatever it was that upset her. But this post is about bad videos, so effectively, the second part wasn't included up there.
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I know I said that saaki saaki took the prize, at least in this post, but that was only because it is one of my all-time favorite songs; more so because of Sukhwinder Singh, whom I would Hero-worship if I were into that kind of thing. It was actually watching the murder of saaki saaki that first irritated me and turned me into such a crabby critic when it comes to music videos. It also inspired my love for the good videos, and made me first think up a dream career (as a director), even if it just remains a fantasy.

Anyway, the murder of saaki saaki was personal, so it had to take the Cringe-prize. Still, this next one is the rotten cherry on this spoiled cake, and I don't think I need to explain why:

one love, from Rakht (2004)
singers & lyricists: Shaan and Blue
music director : Anand Raj Anand
movie director: Mahesh Manjrekar
choreographer: unnamed
actors: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and minions



For those who don't understand why this video should make you cringe (and you know who you are), there is little hope for you. But it's there, the hope, you just need a little help is all. My dear friend, if you are reading this, I am only kidding. It was good to remember this high-school argument, and I couldn't resist but mention you.

Anyway, we've cringed enough for one post, so until next time,
(and until I come up with an uber-cool pen-name)

this is Juhi, signing off.