Bollywood Creations during 90s and their shout-out in the Hollywood

Rohit Choubey
Aug 7, 2018
3 min read

Bollywood songs can make your feet feel the rhythm and catch the vibes of dance at anytime. The desi beats with immensely creative choreography styles are one of the attractions of Bollywood for decades. There are many movies and songs which are highly inspired by Hollywood and has proved to be a blockbuster on the box-office, but there are some instances where lyrics and music of Bollywood songs were so appealing and catchy that Hollywood directors didn’t give a second thought to use those songs/music as an opening credit or as a background song in their movies. Bollywood era of 90s showcases some of the classic songs of 90s era which were played loud in the Hollywood movies.

Chamma Chamma in Moulin Rouge: The legendary movie “Moulin Rouge” directed by Baz Luhrmann, poetically expressed the love of an English poet who falls for a star cabaret dancer at Moulin Rouge. This musical romantic comedy movie was nominated for eight Oscar categories. The best part for the Bollywood lovers is that the movie used Anu Malik’s song “Chamma Chamma” (from the movie ChinaGate) in one of the stage performance with an unparalleled and exceptional choreography.

Picture credit: Boookmyshow.com

Chaiyya Chaiyya in Inside Man: The 1998 Bollywood flick “Dil Se’ had one of the most popular compositions of the musician A.R Rehman called Chaiyya Chaiyya which was beautifully shot on a train top with Shahrukh khan and Malaika Arora in the lead. The song was so appealing for the Hollywood director “Spike Lee” that he used it in the opening credits of his movie “Inside Man”.

Picture Credit: Youtube

Bombay theme music in Lord of War: This was the time when A.R Rehman’s music was credited again in the Hollywood. The Bombay theme music was used in the Nicolas Cage starrer “Lord of War” in a scene where the actor gets arrested in Africa and the airplane was dismantled with the sun setting down letting no hope to escape. We can hear Bombay theme in the background. Hats off to this musical legend!

Picture Credit: YouTube

Mujhe Rang De/ Swasamae in Accidental Husband: The Accidental Husband was the romantic comedy movie directed by Griffin Dunne. The film features several Indian songs, “Mujhe Rang De” being one of them played during a wedding celebration scene. The song was from an action drama movie “Takshak” with Ajay Devgan and Tabu as the lead actors. However, the movie used another song called “Swasamae” from a Tamil movie “Thenali” released in 2000.

Picture Credit: YouTube

Pardesi Pardesi Jana Nahi in Expendables 2: Shocked!! The song is from the movie “Raja Hindustani” released in 1996.You may not hear the hindi version in the movie. The Russian version of this Hindi song popular as “Azis & Ustata Tochno Sega” was used as a background song before a bar fight scene in the Sylvester Stallone starrer Expendables 2.

Picture Credit: YouTube

Chori chori gori se hum pyar karenge in “The Guru”: The story of the movie revolves around a dance teacher who is lured by the bright life of the United States and leaves his native city (New Delhi) to pursue a career in dance. However, the topsy-turvy events in his life at America turns him to a sex guru. The movie uses a song “Chori chori gori se hum pyar karenge” in the background during a dance sequence performed by the Guru which was from the movie “Mela” released in 2000.