Friday, September 30, 2005

Crazy banaya isne

I don't know what it is with this song, but it's everywhere. The movie's a resounding flop but 'Aashiq banaya aapne' is a major hit. It is in fact the top selling Hindi film soundtrack at the moment.

And I am sick of it.

There's this new trend of song-hits from flop-films. Woh Lamhe was one such example -but that was a catchy tune.

My personal favourite right now is Aashayein from Iqbal.
Kuch karne ki ho aas aas
Kuch armaan dil ke paas paas
Aashayein, aashayein.


Both the lyrics and the tune are fantastic. Of course, so was the film.

No escape
The reason why songs like Aashiq banaya aapne are inescapable is that not only do you hear it being played over and over on FM radio, there are folks who inflict it on you as their 'caller tune'. (What is known as a 'ringback' tone in many markets)

I never thought people would pay 30 bucks a month for the pleasure of playing music instead of the regular 'tring tring' but who knew? Logic and reason don't operate in the mobile market, we otherwise kanjoos Indians will fork out small bits of cash for just about anything.

According to a report on the BSNL website
It is estimated that 20-25 per cent of the 56-million mobile subscribers in India are paying for ring-back tones and downloading ring tones. The 20-25 per cent growth every month again shows how popular such applications have become. People are willing to shell out nearly Rs 30 a month for ring-back tones, with Rs 15 for the initial download and Rs 9 for each ring tone download!

This explosive growth has contributed to the bottomline of operators in India, who are targeting 7 per cent of their total revenue from downloads in the next two to three years.


And now, Orange has introduced sms tones.

While some may believe 'phone sirf baat karne ke liye hota hai', others obviously believe it's a jukebox. And aashiq banaya aapne is what gets their booty shakin'... Sigh!

16 comments:

  1. Me first. I like Rashmi's skill at picking simple incidents around us and sharing her thoughts so beautifully. BTW, I really like the song. It's one of my favorite this week. But yes, I have still not managed to shell out that 30 bucks for making others hear the song. True Indian, would you say - ME KANJOOS ;-)

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  2. I shelled out that 30 bucks and got the ABA tone.Thoda tho thrill hone ka life mein.!I found the song good..The remixed one is even better (Sufi Remix).Itz atleast better than the 'Kajra re' one.What say? Iqbaal songs were nice too..But I'd prefer something popular ring tone on my mobile. How about 'Salaam Namaste'? :)

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  3. ha ha...i never thought of putting caller tunes earlier. Untill I found No Doubt's 'Don't Speak' on the list. ;)

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  4. I happened to be covering the press conference when Airtel launched Caller Tunes - they then expected it to be a small but significant market - around Rs 100 crore a year. Value-added services today (excl. SMS which also gets tagged onto this category) contribute some Rs 1000 crore to the kitty of operators - ringback tones, ringtones, wallpaper and games downloads. The reason ringback tones are such a huge hit? They are technology nuetral. Of course, they are also a great way of finding out about the person - for example I heard 'Karma Chameleon' as the ringtone of one person which pretty much confirmed many of the things I thought about him. I don't klnow what to think with people who have MJ as their tone, and with someone who makes me endure 'Bheege bheege yaadein' doesn't deserve to be talked to.

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  5. A friend has 'Do lafzon ki hai ye kahani' as his hello tune and I simply love it. Though, my ring tone is Ashiq Banaya Apne :)

    I am kanjoos but my nephews downloaded it and for the first time they were not scolded for it!

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  6. Anonymous7:41 PM

    Hi Rashmi..
    but it IS a jukebox..really!!

    check this out

    http://www.apple.com/itunes/mobile/

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  7. Indian Mobile Subscribers coming of age you see!

    n ya, Aashiq Banaya Aapne rocks!

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  8. God, that song is irritating.

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  9. Hey Rashmi,
    Definitely an irritating song and even more irritating vidoe of the remix version where Himesh Reshamiyya,its music director has his neck twisted throughout the song and no change of expression!Ouch!
    Completely agree on that 30 bucks bit. It's seriously a waste of money!However small the amount.

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  10. The way it's making enough revenues (or profits whichever is apt) for the mobile service providers, I don't think the song-for-ringtone scheme should gall us at all.

    I have believed and always will that despite expert analysis which consitutes to 99 % of the causative factors in success, the 1% luck factor gets the better end of everything.

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  11. It is a catchy tune. Though, "Aapki Kashish" is equally good :)
    btw, this guy Emraan Hashmi is really lucky -- almost every movie of his has had either 1 absolutely hit song or good music in totality.

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  12. Well said...That songs sucks to the core...these days for a song to click, the lyrics must be meaningless, the voice pathetic, the raag totally distorted...that's their formula and we can't really blame them...there is a part of the youth audience who has no knowledge of music but which listens to it...And as history has seen it, these would pass...but undoubtedly, the everlasting ones are the melodies of yester years.

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  13. A stupid song indeed...no good tune, no good voice...and not so good lyrics...and this seems to be the USP of upcoming music directors sparing some...and tell about the audience taste! I owe it to lack of knowledge of good music...need not be technical know-hows.

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  14. i hate hate hate hate hate hate hate that song.

    more so because of the fact that its so catchy !!!

    yuck!

    and there's this friend of mine who cannot stop listening to it.

    :(

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  15. i agree about aashayein which FM never seems to play..the movie and the song both are amazing..
    But i also like the song "aashiq banaya" but the fact that its playing everywhere and everytime ..is irritating. and specially when they play the remix .. it sucks to the core

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  16. i want to download vedio of aba

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