Last Raees Song! Mika Singh Appears

The final (probably) Raees song has just been released.  And it is the Mika Singh song that is apparently required in every hit film now (Mika or Yo Yo or Badshah).  Tough and a little Bhangra mixed with hip-hop sounding.  Less hip-hop in this case, more 80s style.

By the way, have you been seeing SRK’s re-tweeting over the past few days?  I am fascinated, because he is focusing mostly on fan groups that treat confirmation of how many tickets they have bought, or how sold out their local theater is.

I could be miss-remembering, but it feels like in the past Shahrukh has done less of that for his movies, and more kind of general buzz type stuff.  Asking for fans to translate lyrics, or make artwork, or perform dances.  This kind of straight up “I want the SRK army to go out there and buy tickets and I am grateful for that” feels more like how Salman has been promoting his films.  And now Shahrukh’s final gesture is to travel from Delhi to Bombay by train, which also feels more Salman (being accessible to the common man) and Aamir (seeing the ‘real’ India).

I wonder if this is in reaction to how his last films have failed?  Trying a different branding/marketing strategy in imitation of his more successful rivals?

Anyway, all of that is kind of unrelated to this new song trailer:


What this trailer is related to is back to the “olden days” kind of gangster movies and concept of a gangster.  Well, sort of.

Back in the 70s, in “real life”, there were these gangsters who created kind of a parallel economy and society.  There was a lot of mass migration across the country, a lot of undocumented and homeless communities, and the gangsters were there to help build schools and donate food and do all kinds of good for people who the police and government would rather just left.

But since this was actually going on at the time, the films had to be a little circumspect about showing it.  So you have Deewar, based on Haji Mastan, and instead of explicitly showing how he helped the slum-dwellers and became a political figure, you sort of showed it a different way through his specific acts of generosity and kindness to specific other characters.

But now that’s in the past, so the films can actually show what happened.  And they can show the darker side too, that Shahrukh’s character may be building Masjid’s and donating textbooks and greeting cheering crowds, but he has his eye on the bottom line all along, he’s not just the noble selfless sufferer like Amitabh in Deewar.

Oh, and again, since it is a period piece, I appreciate that they wrote a modern song that sounds kind of old-fashioned.  No rap break, no real hip-hop beat, more kind of Bhangra and RD Burman sounding than anything else.


5 thoughts on “Last Raees Song! Mika Singh Appears

  1. This one took a few listens but it’s really grown on me. I just listened to the whole soundtrack on Gaana while I was chopping fruit and making dinner. I enjoyed it a lot! As you’ve touched on, it’s a really nice blend of old and new. The last song Ghammar Ghammar (which either wasn’t released with a video or I completely missed it) really worked in the 80s/disco feel and it sounds fantastic. My boys left their Pokemon show to come into the kitchen and dance. That’s how I KNOW it’s a good song!


      • I showed them that movie in the summer! They loved it so much, we must have watched it four or five times. We also watched Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo, but My Neighbor Totoro was their favorite (my favorites are Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, but I thought those might be a bit much for their ages). We bought them a big stuffed Totoro for Christmas.


  2. Pingback: Happy Raees Week! Deewar, the Ultimate Smuggler and Criminal and Anti-Hero and Let’s Just Say Film-Film – dontcallitbollywood

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