Today evening, my mother, while tinkering with her mobile, accidentally played some devotional songs of Jain religion which were sung on popular Bollywood tunes. Listening to these songs, both of us started laughing. Sometimes it looks too weird.

For some years in India, I’ve often seen the rising popularity of playing devotional songs’ lyrics on composition of hit movie music. Whether it is a “Mata ji ki chauki” during Navratra, or Bhajans (hymns) sung for God & Goddesses, or Jain Stuti sung at a devotional gathering, or Gujarati Dandiya dance during Navratra; using the devotional lyrics on a popular movie song has became a norm these days.

Dilemma of Copyright

As this kind of copying is a grey area in Indian Copyright Act, such songs are gaining acceptance in our society. With regard to what constitutes a permissible Fair Dealing, there is no clear definition of “fair use” in Indian jurisprudence. However, most parody work can be considered as a derivative work which does not compete with the original work; lyrics of some copyrighted devotional songs too are modified to suit the purpose of a specific religion or a particular religious event. Again, it can be argued whether it can be considered an infringement or not.

The ease of binding a large crowd of devotees

Even in the event of all such works being legitimate, do you really like singing a devotional song on a Bollywood song music? I can understand that the popularity of a song makes it easy to sing together a devotional lyric for a large crowd when lyrics are distributed to them along with the name of the Bollywood song music to be used for singing it. Today, most people have no time to learn, how an original devotional song should be sung. So when a large gathering takes place, it becomes easier to sing a song on some popular tune.

Ironically, this practice even inspires some hardcore religious followers, who have no interest in movies and hot numbers to go and listen to the songs which are getting popular these days. Only then they can sing their devotional songs in a religious gathering.

From where would devotion come?

To me, the music always keeps reminding me the original lyrics and it drags my mind away from any possible spiritual inclination. Bollywood songs used are mostly in romantic genre or some hit item numbers. E.g. you can find many devotional lyrics on item numbers like “Sheela ki Jawani” and “Munni badnaam hui”. These are in stark contrast with spiritual and devotional songs. Still, I wonder how these trend is getting popular day after day!

Check some examples here:

Listen to these Bhajans and tell me if you find them appealing enough to take you towards spiritual pursuits:

Lungi Dance Bhajan Mix:

Khatu Shyam Bhajan on “Kolavari Di” tune

Shiv ke photo ko sine se chipka le saiyaan fevicol se

(If you wanna see the original performance on this song, click the below link: )

Here you can find a mix of many such Bollywood parodied Bhajans:

To conclude, I don't have a positive view point on the application of devotional lyrics to popular movie songs. But their growth in popularity says otherwise. So I would like to know, what are your thoughts on this practice.

• Does this show a devotion to religion or a devotion to your favourite Bollywood movies?
• Do you enjoy religious events where such parodies are played?
• Do these types of devotional music help spread spirituality?
  
  
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