‘The Simpsons’ go Bollywood (updated)
The Simpsons dance to a Hindi song at the end of the ‘Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore’ episode (via Within and Without; thanks, dhaavak and Amardeep). Watch the clip.
The song is ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye’ from Johnny Mera Naam, sung by Kishore Kumar.
Homer: This isn’t India! Where’s the University of Notre Dame and the Indy 500 and Wrigley Field and Dodger Dogs?!
Indian Woman: You ignorant American! You have confused India with Indiana, Indiana with Illinois, and the Cubs with the Dodgers!
Homer: I took a job on the other side of the world?! (groans as the camera pulls to a satellite’s view of India) I hate this subcontinent! …Simpsons creator Matt Groening is said to be a fan of Bollywood movies. [Link]
Marge’s sisters perform a nagin dance while chasing a man. He reacts the same way as the guy in Bride and Prejudice.
Update: Speaking of nagins, the snake which attacks Harry Potter is named Nagini. It’s yet another desi reference in the Brit-authored tales:
Nagini - “Naga” is “snake” in Sanskrit and “Nagin” means “female snake” in Urdu. A reference to Rudyard Kipling’s cobra character Nagina, referred to as Nagini in some translations? [Link]
Kipling pinched it from Urdu, thankyaverramuch.
on Thursday, May 25th, 2006, 6:46 pm in Simpsons, TV › 
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It is from that episode — the closing. I watched it (it was ok, nothing too exotic exciting). A couple of ironic comments on outsourcing, Homer finds Apu’s cousin in Bangalore, and there’s a mock “Apocalypse Now” sequence.
I’ve seen that clip like seven times now… That song is so catchy. I know the singer is Kishore Kumar but any idea on the deets to the song, movie, composer etc… it is like… I can totally see myself doing Smithers’ moves in the song… made my morning. :-)
oh… btw - the credits ran out on the clip - for those who saw the whole thing (Amardeep?) did they give due credits to wherever they got the song from… or is it another phunk with my heart?
It’s ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye’ from Johnny Mera Naam.
thanks … will look up the movie on musicindiaonline
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/17/s/movie_name.981/
what do you know… it’s kalyanji anandji again… these guys rock!!! sorry for the multiple posts.. it’s just such a merry melody and not cloying at all.
I think it was Dev Anand and Hema Malini? Dev Anand is basically stalking Hema Malini who prances from room to bathroom to room. When I was a kid - for a LOOONG time I thought Dev Anand was lip syncing “For one full moment -I hope someone loves me - even a shoe” as opposed to “even false love”. (Joota and Jhootha) I felt very bad for Dev Anand - why would he want a shoe to love him. How desperate was our stalker getting?
haha….that Nagin dance was the only redeeming act in that entire movie. I came out with my toes crinkled from all the cringing.
Last year I spent quite a few months working in Delhi and naturally got requested to bring back a lot of crap by my friends and family, one such was made by my father who’d requested that I bring back a DVD of Johnny Mera Naam…The old man wanted us to see a scene/or song which was shot in Nalanda, a place in Bihar - apparently, Buddha had built the first university there or something. Oh sure, why not pay for a trip and take us there, just point it out in a movie and go - “look beta, that’s Bihar and here’s an interesting piece of history attached to it…”
Trying to find the movie entailed visiting a lot of Planet Ms…where the staff in those funky purple shirts had to shoot my request down by saying, “sorry madam, bahut poorani movie hai”. And I even went down into the dark alleys of Palika Bazaar, ah the travesty that the world’s biggest chor bazaar didn’t have that movie!!!
Anyway, finally on the last leg of my trip, I visited Banaras to see my grandparents and voila, what do you know? In a small gumti-styled store which sold pirated version of the latest releases, I found a copy of the movie! Of course it was a VCD (comprising of 3 CDs) because “itni puraani movie ka DVD aapko kahin nahi milega”.
Surely, that made my father happy, but the pain that it involved. I had to speak in the best bhojpuri I could muster to sound totally native.
Why am I sharing this story with you all? I don’t know…
Q and A:
What is a gumti? It is one of those tiny corner stores that sell paan, ciggies and 50 paisa-wala candy. Ah, yes, “khaike paan banaras wala…”
Just in case anyone cares, the guy that the sisters were dancing at was their version of their celebrity crush, Richard Dean Anderson.. the guy who plays Macgyver. It’s one of those long-running jokes they like to have.
The episode with the ‘Pal Bhar ke Liye’ song from the Simpsons used to be on youtube but is not anymore! And I REALLY want to watch it! Anyone know what season and episode the song is from?
Oh and ‘Neha’, I loved your comment! Hilarious!! (You heard Joota, instead of Jhoota and thought Dev Anand was pathetic for settling for any kind of love…be it from woman or SHOE!!) Lol!! That is the kind of mistake I would make also…one time I heard ‘Bhudiya’ instead of ‘Gudia’…it made quite a difference in the song!