Manifestation of Remix Culture in Bollywood Songs: A Postmodern Analysis

Abstract

Bollywood songs have been enjoying their popularity not only in India but throughout the world. With the increase in royalty payment and sinking sales, Indian music industries have taken it to remix songs to survive in the market. This paper will use Fredric Jameson’s idea of “Postmodernism” to argue that the Indian music industry has become a showcase of style and effects, with less emphasis on its content. In the current scenario, the real touch is lost and what remains is a pastiche, which has led to Jameson’s “deconstruction of expression”. By adding a cosmetic touch to super hit old songs, history is undermined, while using people’s nostalgia for old songs as a tool of promotion or late capitalism. Similarly, Steve Conner (1989) talks about the “elastic saleability” of the cultural past, with its regular recycling of its own history, which leads to successful capitalism. In this process, viewers are hegemonised by the big music industries. On the other hand, artists and directors seem to have either lost their ability to create original content or surrendered to the tempting profits earned from making copies of the real.