Ladki Ladki Sheher ki Ladki (1996)
A 1996 song which describes how a “Sheheri ladki”(city girl) is, what she likes, what she means when she greets someone, what is her character like, and the usual generalization of all the above points.
Even though the beats and singers’ voice is great but the lyrics and video ruin it.
Considering the time it was made in, Bollywood had a huge significance in public and whatever was shown in the movies, it was adapted by the viewers to stay in the trend. Even the mindset shown was adopted without a question, which is the reason why such songs created a problem and have helped root the wrong image of Indian women.
“Teri machalti najar mera badan chume chume”, which means his eyes kisses her body through his looks; and ”Baahon mein jhume jhume jhume jhume jhume”, which means she likes to roam around in people’s arms. Such lines don’t set a great example, and makes one think that the city girl might like such actions which is not the case in reality.
In the video, it can be seen that all the people around her have picked her up and surrounded her numerous times, which is wrong and shouldn’t be encouraged but considering it to be a dance step it can be ignored.
The above shot looks a bit shady since Trump’s vanity van leaked recordings.
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl (1987)
This song is about a garage guy and how he wants the girl to want her because she is tired of her uptown and high life.
Throughout the song, the guys maintain a certain distance from the girl, which is what is expected. Even though Billi Joel seems to be extra possessive, from the lines, “And when she's talking, She'll say that she's mine”, “She's my uptown girl”, can be overlooked because of the following lines “She’s got a choice”, ”She’ll say I’m not so tough”, which tells us that the girl’s got a choice and a voice.
‘Uptown Girl’ which came 9 years before ‘Sheher ki ladki’ launched, tells us about the Bollywood thinking and how behind we were at that time. Also, how such songs might have created certain stereotypes in our society whose impact can be seen even in today's time.
(A fun fact, ‘Sheher ki Ladki’ song had a remake in 2020 sung by ‘Badshah’ which made the song even worse and objectified women even more.)