Paree

The year was '93. I had just entered 'junior college' and was suddenly exposed to a world of intercollegiate competitions, rose-days, Tie and Saree days and annual days. And competitive fashion shows, those choreographed, somewhat elaborate dances paraded by budding youth on the college ramps. Each of the fashion show competitions would typically involve three or so different themes, one of which would be Ethnic couture.

It is with this backdrop that I remember a song, a singularly popular song with a haunting melodies singer and a somewhat unusual beat that I forever associate with the fashion shows of my youth.

Leslie Lewis had moved up from composing radio jingles to occasional score in movies. A song or two here and there, collaborating with other bigger names. A young Suneeta Rao, who had established herself in the college scene in St Xaviers productions of plays such as Evita was signed up by HMV for an album Dhuan. Translated  literally, it means smoke, but one that was meant to be the smoke screen between reality and dreams.

First half of the song is shot almost entirely in black and white, the song shows interwoven snippets of Suneeta Rao, and a young girl. The story or the plot of the video, I must confess, I never truly understood. It seems to revolve around a girl coming of age, transitioning from a girl to a young lady, but overall, the theme is subdued, and most of the video is really focused on a pretty Suneeta Rao.

Paree translates literally into a fairy, but a more apt translation here would be an angel or nymph. The song is about this nymph, the pretty girl lost in a dream sequence.

The song is a sensual, fast paced song. The beat is simple, the meter is somewhat long. The cymbals based percussion perhaps is a signature of this song. The riffs towards the end are similar to what Euphoria later used in Maaeri.

The song is short, the melody and the flute is haunting, sensual and almost transcendental. The beats themselves lend to a slow and steady rhythm, what made it such a hit on the ethnic fashion show sequences.

Watch Paree Hoon mein on YouTube (pretty bad clip but the only video I found) or on soundcloud

A good song can inspire covers, some quite wonderfully rendered. Watch an interesting cover of this song played by four girls from earlier this year. Sung very well, but with a video that starts cute but then progresses to ridiculously cheesy visuals.