One of the most fascinating things about big heroes of Indian cinema is that they all get at least one song in the movie which is dedicated to them. In fact, nowadays, during the production of the film, it is often announced by creators that the movie is going to have a high budgeted “entry scene” which nobody has seen before.
One of the important qualities of Indian movies that separate them from the West is the use of songs and dance numbers in the movies. While sometimes the song is important to take the narrative forward, it is often seen that songs are unnecessarily used to attract viewers. Almost all of the action movies produced in the country suffers from the syndrome of having a chest thumping title song.
Style of song
The main aim of title song in action movies is to aware the audience about the potential of the ‘hero’ and what he can do to bad guys. If you look at the lyrics of the title songs of action movies like Dabangg, Wanted, Heropanti, Singham, etc. you will notice the similarities. These songs are generally made in a similar pattern. There is a catchy hook line, chest pumping background dancers, beats of dhols and nagadas, lyrics filled with fire and an upbeat tempo. The budget of making these grand entry songs sometimes exceeds the budget of an independent movie. South Indian stars like Ram Charan, Jr. NTR, Vijay etc. all have great title songs associated with them. The trend was copied by Hindi Cinema and it is going on since then.
Salman Khan’s influence
The Bollywood star Salman Khan is the biggest reason why these songs work. The trend of having action packed title song about the hero started with Salman Khan and his superhit action movies like Wanted, Dabangg, Jai Ho, etc. In most his movies, the title song generally comes immediately after his much anticipated or he makes the entry during the title song itself. The filmmakers make sure the lyricist is using his full potential in writing a song praising the reel and real image of the character. The title song of his movies has lyrics like “SabkiAan, SabkiShaan, SabkaEkBhaijaan” which makes crowd roar in the theatre.
Promotional technique
Having larger than life title songs in action movies is a good promotional technique. The song gets picked up before the release of the films and creates anticipation about the film. The movies like Singham, Rowdy Rathore, etc. worked well because their title songs became famous before the release of the movie.
