No two Bollywood movies can be put on the same pedestal for judgement. The typical masala movie will definitely be different from a Ship of Theseus. This logic can be extended to most of the 90s Bollywood movies as well. Looking back, we might find a lot of content in those movies ‘offensive’, and it might make us cool on the internet if we hate on them; but please know, that they are most definitely great movies.
But loving Bollywood for what it encompasses is a debate for some other time. This is the time when we celebrate Bollywood and the greatest 90s movie to have ever come out – Border.
We often find refuge in what our opinion about good music is. Be it Pink Floyd or Maroon 5, we tend to have our favourites. But take a step back and ask yourself, what is that one song that has the power to unite strangers at a party; especially when they are under the influence of alcohol? Yes.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a metal head or a lover of the new wave of EDM, Sandese Aate Hain will always be special for everyone.
One of the major reasons why Bollywood is that one thread which holds the social fabric of the country together is the wide appeal. Now that the multiplex-elites are talking about socio-political analysis of every movie with below par movies being hailed as path-breaking because they do everything but entertain the audiences, it has now become more important to be politically correct in movies than doing what they are supposed to do – entertain.
In simpler times of the 90s, Border didn’t really care much about being a path-breaking movie with pretentious black and white shots with a random French philosopher’s quote embedded throughout the movie. They wanted to make a movie that stays with the audience and it very much did. We all remember the huge sacrifices being put in by the different characters and the brilliant one-liners.
As a matter of fact, we can sing the entire 13-minute song and spread the message of brotherhood. Something that ‘good’ cinema will never have.
If you’ve watched a movie in a theatre recently, you know about this new court order instructing these places to play the national anthem before every movie. This is being done to instill a sense of nationalism in the otherwise lazy ‘ungrateful’ crowd. This move has led to a number of violent events inside theatres and people have actually been hurt because of this.
I have an easy solution for this – play Sandese Aate Hain instead. That song never gets old. There’s just something about the song that makes everyone sing along to the mukhda wala ‘Oooo hoooooooo!”. In addition to that, everyone can sit and enjoy themselves before being entertained. And this will celebrate Bollywood before indulging in it. Brilliant idea, no? Please sign the petition here.
For some reason, modern day Bollywood is obsessed with party songs. Like Kanan and Biswa once said during a Pretentious Movie Review, most of the recent songs are now about “Dope karenge, party karenge. Daaru peeyenge, party karenge”.
Of course, these new songs are catchy. But do you know what else is ‘catchy’? Herpes.
The day Baadshah decides to ‘revamp’ or ‘modernise’ our favourite song, there will be a bloodbath on the streets. Okay. Maybe not. But you get the sentiment right?
Every 90s kid has had a fantastic childhood and Sandese Aate Hain has been an indispensable part of it. I know that you’ll now switch to YouTube to listen to this, so I’ll add the song here. Go for it, fellow Bhairon Singh fans.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not ScoopWhoop.
