Hindi songs featuring a tadka of English lyrics

We all like a bit of mix-n-match and is it any wonder that just like we converse in Hinglish, most of our songs have Hinglish lyrics too. However, the trend isn’t new, it’s been going on for a while now.

We all like a bit of mix-n-match and is it any wonder that just like we converse in Hinglish, most of our songs have Hinglish lyrics too. However, the trend isn’t new, it’s been going on for a while now.

Saif-Ali-Khan-and-Deepika-Padukone-in-a-still-from-Cocktail

The late ’50s and early ’60s saw songs like Mera naam chin chin chu (Howrah Bridge, 1958) and C-A-T, cat… cat maane billi (Dilli Ka Thug, 1958) with English lyrics.

The ’70s took this trend further with popular songs like My name is Anthony Gonsalves (Amar Akbar Anthony, 1977), My heart is beating (Julie, 1975) and Monica… oh my darling! (Caravan, 1971). The ’80s weren’t far behind with SP Balasubramaniam crooning I don’t know what you say (Ek Duuje Ke Liye, 1981) and Kishore Kumar singing in broken English in Naa jaiyo pardes from Karma (1986).

Our very own Anu Malik continued this trend in the ’90s with songs like My adorable darling (Main Khiladi Tu Anari, 1994), What is mobile number (Haseena Maan Jayegi, 1999) and Why did you break my heart (Akele Hum Akele Tum, 1995). The new millennium has seen a surprising rise with more and more songs featuring English lyrics. Shaan has sung many such songs like, One love, Rock n roll soniye, My dil goes Hmmm and recently That’s all I really want to do.

Playback singer Neeraj Shridhar, who has also been a part of many such songs says, “In many of my songs, the English influence comes naturally and is not forced — be it Hare Krishna hare Ram (Bhool Bhulaiyaa, 2007), I’ll do the talking tonight (Agent Vinod) or even the latest Tumhi ho bandhu (Cocktail).” Surely this trend is here to stay!