Hindi Mein “Disco” Kaisey Kahtey Hain?

There can't be many people under the age of thirty with vaguely Asian (or indeed Soviet) parentage who won't have seen the 1982 Hindi flick Disco Dancer at some point. It's a cult legend amongst Desis and Sovoks alike. The film tells the moving tale of one man's attempt to overcome a fear of guitars stemming from his mother's electrocution by a sabotaged six-string in order to compete for India in the International Disco Dancing Competition. Really.

M.I.A has a sampled Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Aaja on the latest single from the terrific Kala album but the film's soundtrack boasts more than one Hindi-disco classic, including a memorable wholesale rip off of The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star. The centrepiece song for me will always be the appropriately ridiculous I Am A Disco Dancer though, an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink epic whose creative process appears to have included the thought "hmm, it's good but not quite excessive enough - why don't we throw in a section from The Sound Of Music?".

Incidentally, if anyone knows whether there is an International Disco Dancing Competition, please get in touch.

Vijay Benedict - I Am A Disco Dancer