Inside Man's Hindi Ditty, Video

Among Inside Man watchers this weekend there has been alot of discussion about the incongruent Bollywood tune that provides the Manhattan heist movie's intro and outro.

Known as "Chaiyya Chaiyya," the atmospheric track with a big backbeat was first heard in India's theaters in the 1998 hit Dil Se. The song was penned by Bollywood uber composer A.R. Rahman, with lyrics by Gulzar, performed by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi.

While the original tune is largely intact during the Inside Man intro, it has been reworked by Panjabi MC for the end credits. The remix is called "Chaiyya Chaiyya Bollywood Joint" on the Inside Man soundtrack and it bears Panjabi MC's penchant for interlacing traditional bhangra with hip hop samples and rap. Why Spike Lee chose "Chaiyya Chaiyya" for Inside Man has yet to be told (I haven't listened to the podcast on iTunes) but there are lots of third-party opinions about the song's effectiveness in the new movie.

Dil Se, the film "Chaiyya Chaiyya" was first featured in, centers on — what else — two star-crossed lovers who happen to have an incredible knack for song and dance. But the source of Dil Se's conflict is that the film's heroine is a freedom fighter who falls in love with a journalist assigned to investigate her party while she's en route to commit a terrorist act.

Despite the weighty premise, "Chaiyya Chaiyya" is exuberantly performed as a central dance number in the picture. Swooping cranes and high-speed tracking shots are trained on the roof of the love birds' moving train as they sing and dance their way through the beautiful scenery of North India. It's a conceit not unlike the new movie the song bookends: A thrill ride unburdened by harsh realities until the conductor pulls the train back into the station.

Chaiyya Chaiyya Links:
Videos: a. YouTube, b. YouTube, c.GoogleVideo
Audio: .mp3 Lyrics: translation Wikipedia: background

[posted by Sheigh]