Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
[00:00:00] You're listening to the Quint's podcast. GANPATI BAPPA MOUREA Hello everyone, I'm Suparna and you're listening to Reel Deal where we discuss all things cinema. So Ganesh Festival is here and Sara Mahal Festival has been made.
[00:00:46] It's also the time of the year when at least one Ganpati related Bollywood song is released which cashes in on the hyper on the festival. Because if it clicks, then it sticks and gets played all over the city at pandals and community
[00:01:02] celebrations and then film for fayda hi ho gah right? So bhat saare aise fun Ganpati songs hota hai jo actually Ganpati ko mention nahi karthe yaar fir not directly related to the festival, lekin wo festive mahal hota hai aur wo aise
[00:01:16] gane hota hai which are definitely played at the Ganpati processions and pandals through these 10 days. So this year it is the remix version of Dadakon ke old 80 song Dhagala lagli kar composed by the great Ram Lakshman and this song was released right before Ganesh Chaturthi timing right?
[00:01:33] Toh waisi toh this song like I was saying has nothing to do with Lord Ganesha as such but on Ganpati any good dance number with some dhinchak beats, dole and energy is fun to dance on right?
[00:01:45] And just 2 days ago I already heard this song being played at a Ganpati procession in my lane and people are dancing away to glory on it and also in the reins you know just like Aishman Khurana and Ritesh Deshmukh do it in the promotional video of the song.
[00:02:00] Aur song kick off hone se pehle Ritesh Deshmukh announce kar dete hai that unlike all of the other films which generally use a Punjabi song to promote their film, they're gonna use a Marathi song to celebrate Ganpati and of course promote the film as well.
[00:02:13] The fun aspect is there and while Ganpati songs are a lot of fun what is also interesting is that a lot of times Ganpati sequences are actually used as a key element in film scripts and are crucial to the plot.
[00:02:25] And notice karna that many a times they come right before something big climatic, violent or ugly is about to go down in a film. And in today's episode that's exactly what I'm going to talk about the use of Ganpati festival, the Aarti songs or scenes in Bollywood films.
[00:02:42] So, as I was talking to you about this song from Dream Girl, Ritesh Deshmukh makes a special appearance and he announces that unlike the promotional songs of other films this one won't be Punjabi. You know it will be Marathi.
[00:02:53] So Ritesh has already done a Ganpati special song in his previous film Banjo where he was playing the lead and he plays a Banjo player in a local Mumbai band. Banjo players are really sought after during Ganpati actually but that one was actually also a prayer to Ganesha.
[00:03:10] Before I move on to some serious stuff and we discuss some really crucial scenes that were picturized on the Ganpati festival. Let's talk about how Ganpati songs have been used in films to show heroes grand entry. You know with dance, dhamaka and dhinshak music.
[00:03:26] So first up I want to talk about this cheeky dance number of Varun Dhawan from Jodwatu. It released around the Ganesh festival so obviously a Ganpati related dance number was a perfect choice especially because it fit into the plot and also created some hype.
[00:03:41] Jodwatu, Varun makes a smashing entry through the song which is called Suno Ganpati Bappa and he also does some typical Mumbai-Gunda type dance move to get you hooked. Vase Varun is seeking Ganpati's help in this song but for a completely different reason.
[00:03:58] Ye Suno what he is actually praying to the elephant god about. Kuch samaj nahi aata mujhe ye mere san kya ho riya. Kuch karo, kuch karo, kuch karo, haa ji kuch karo. Suno Ganpati Bappa, Moria, parishan kare mujhe chhoria.
[00:04:18] Well, Chikki Varun is actually asking Ganpati Bappa to help him with all the female attention that he's getting and it's much less to do with actual Ganpati celebrations. But you know isn't this community festival really all about letting loose and having fun.
[00:04:36] It is and also hero ki entry happening to Ganpati song works you know. So another hero ki entry that I always remember is Shah Rukh Khan's entry in Dawn. Now the original Dawn which starred Amitabh Bachchan, in that film Amitabh made an entry
[00:04:52] to ye hai Mumbai Nagariya to dekh babua which captured the spirit of Mumbai. Lekin Farhan Akhtar jino ne Dawn ki remake banai with Shah Rukh Khan he decided to catch the fervour and the flavour of the Ganesh festival and how it's celebrated in the streets
[00:05:05] of Mumbai when he planned the hero's entry. So Shah Rukh makes his entries singing and dancing at a Ganesh Visarjan procession in the song Moria Re. He also dances on the beach and in the waves with tons of background dancers doing the Lejim.
[00:05:21] Lejim is a traditional Maharashtrian dance. I think it was the right way to kick start his character story. It plays Vijay and it establishes how different Vijay really is from Dawn. Next I want to really talk about stage performances to Ganpati songs in films.
[00:05:40] This doesn't happen that often you know. We generally see Ganpati celebrations happening in the streets or at a pandal or you know the hero making an entry, dancing with the heroine but in ABCD and ABCD2 there are
[00:05:52] sequences where the dance troops crucial performances on stage happen to a Ganpati song. So these tracks was apt you know because the troops are originally from Mumbai's Chowals and have probably grown up performing at Ganpati celebrations in their area.
[00:06:07] Probably danced at these Ganpati celebrations before they went on and pursued dance professionally. Both these songs are composed by Satin Jigar but they are poles apart. Like in the first ABCD movie the team performs to a high voltage fusion dance number called Gagag Ganpati.
[00:06:24] It's more in the whole celebratory zone but Ganpati of course is not only known as the lord of bringing celebratory spirit but also as the remover of obstacles. So in the second ABCD film there is a Ganpati track called Hey Ganaraya and is
[00:06:40] used in a lot more intense manner to implore the lord to give the dance troops enough strength to get over their hurdles and help them fulfill their dream of actually winning that dance title. This Ganpati song Hey Ganaraya is also very crucial to the plot development as in
[00:06:58] the tough time the dance troop is going through and they got a pull through to win that title. So I want to talk about a few of my favourite Ganpati related scenes in the film and these scenes come either at a very crucial moment in the plot and
[00:07:13] character development or they come during the climax and the way they have been used by the directors to further the plot and the story is something that really fascinates me. One of the most memorable Ganpati sequences that I would like to talk about
[00:07:27] first is the one from Ritik Raushan and Priyanka Chopra film Agni Pat. I mean the song from that film Devash Sri Ganesha has become a go-to track during the festival over the years. We often see singers in talent shows on television and dancers in the
[00:07:44] dance shows on TV perform to this song and it's played very often at the Pandals also. The song is composed by the famous Marathi composer duo Ajay Natul and I must say they are at their best in terms of the composition there in the
[00:07:57] comfort zone when making this song and the intensity of it is really unmatchable.
[00:08:44] Now the song starts off as a Ganesh Aarti and goes on to dole, Tashi and dancing and then turns into a story of revenge and violence. Ritik's character Vijay Dinanath Chauhan he's covered in Gulal completely. He walks into the crowd of people celebrating and dancing and he kills
[00:09:04] Pankaj Tripathi's character in cold blood and the music halts there for a bit as Ritik mouts the iconic lines taken from the original Amitabh Bachchanwala Agni Pat of cost. In this dialogue with every line that he says he actually keeps
[00:09:53] stabbing him through that it's it's kind of disturbing especially because the Ganesh Aarti is playing right before these lines began and immediately after these lines are delivered and once these lines are delivered the song picks up again builds to a crescendo as the
[00:10:10] traditional Aarti plays and just takes this scene to another level. And this sequence perhaps is one of the most powerful sequences to have been featured on a Ganesh Aarti according to me and it gives me goosebumps or whenever I watch it.
[00:10:24] Another sequence that must be talked about is the song Gajanana in Bajira Mastani which stars Ranveer Singh, the pick up adhukon and Priyanka Chopra. There is so much drama happening in this song there's the fierceness of Mastani
[00:10:39] coupled with the moral dilemma that Kashi ba is facing and then the high energy Ganpati Aarti in it I was so impressed like Sanjaleela Bansali who also composed the song by the
[00:10:50] way shot this song so beautifully too you know using lots of reds and whites in the decor the clothes that actors are wearing and the background I mean he me know that he is he has this amazing
[00:11:02] eye for color and detailing and art direction. So in the sequence Kashi ba has just found out that her husband Bajira's lover Mastani and her son are going to come under an attack
[00:11:13] and the life is in danger. So she walks into this whole festive room she joins Bajira in the Ganpati Aarti meanwhile Mastani is trying to fight off her enemies save herself and her son
[00:11:26] and the whole song has us wondering whether Kashi ba will spill the beans to Bajira and save Mastani's life or not what choice will she make so this is such an important moment
[00:11:36] in the film this moment could have made Kashi ba into a much greyer character if she had chosen not to reveal this information to Bajira. I mean just talking about it makes gets me so excited
[00:11:47] these kind of cinematic moments are really rare and a filmmaker like Sanjaleela Bansali one of the rare ones to be able to create this kind of visual thematic and metaphoric moment on screen.
[00:12:01] Then there's also another song not really like up there as my favorite but it is a really memorable one I feel which is a scene from Mahesh Mansrikar's Vastav this song is called Sindhur Lal Chadhao and Sanjadhat's character Raghunath Pachastola Shivalkar of course we all
[00:12:18] remember that line plays the anti-hero who meets his end at the hands of his own mother but before all of that unfolds in this sequence Sanjad's character learns that his enemies are after him they're hot on his trail and of course Sanjadhat is the anti-hero in the film
[00:12:34] but the way Mahesh Mansrikar has portrayed this anti-hero character of Sanjadhat Raghunath you really invest in him when he's actually turning to Ganpati Bappa during his tough times and I think that is a kind of a very important moment and of course one of Sanjadhat's best
[00:12:51] performances according to me but not just Sanjadhat actually his father Sunil Dutt also has a Ganpati song featured on him by the way that song is called Ganpati Bappa Moria and it's from his 1982 film Dharatkarishta but this song is a much more somber sequence said during
[00:13:11] Ganpati Visarjan compared to all the others that we have discussed so far the others that we have discussed were a lot more intense and energy driven the similarity though of this song with the more recent ones that we have discussed remains that again in tough times you remember
[00:13:27] Lord Ganesha and that is portrayed here too. Sunil Dutt is on the verge of losing his daughter who has been in coma a lot of thoughts are going on in his head even as he is doing the Ganpati Aarti
[00:13:40] this is also one of my earliest memories actually of seeing the grandness of the Ganpati festival the way it's celebrated in Mumbai being depicted in a film so whether it's a celebratory or a crucial intense moment in a film he was hoping that Bollywood continues to portray
[00:13:57] this important festival in more and more interesting ways on screen I hope after this conversation you are going to go and revisit some of these on-screen Ganesh festival moments in these films and write into me and let me know which ones are your favorite Ganpati related moments
[00:14:13] in songs or films you can get in touch with me on superna.tombri at thequint.com or tweet to me at superna.tombri.com so I'm gonna sign off now but before I go let me tell you this
[00:14:28] don't forget to subscribe to the quince channel on Apple Google Podcasts and Spotify until next time which is next Friday have a great time at the movies