Top Bollywood samples that got flipped into influential International Masterpieces

Sampling since its inception has revolutionized the music industry around the world most affecting the genres including Hip-Hop, electronic music & pop. Allowing, the ever more so inventive Producers - constantly on a search for fresh sounds - to persistently dig for samples at the unlikeliest places. 

Bollywood being arguably the biggest film industry in terms of producing films in a single year boasts a spectacular mix of extravagant & flamboyant sets, dance, costumes & most notably the unique music with truly magnificent musicianship that gets churned out of the whole shebang! 

Certainly, it’s no surprise to hear an atypical use of Bollywood samples that serves as a building block to some of the greatest compositions ruling the charts globally in multiple genres. 

As samples from Bollywood grab the ever-increasing attention outside India & throughout the world, we take a sampling of some of the sophisticated examples:

Samples:

A massive hit & a Grammy award-winning song by a super mainstream pop artist, Britney Spears, is a piece of sampling genius conspired by Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant, flipping a snippet off 'Tere Mere Beech Mein' by Lata Mangeshkar and S.P. Balasubramaniam from the 1981 film Ek Duje Ke Liye.

This beat was put together by DJ Scratch which utilized a quintessential psych sample from a 1971 song ‘Dum Maro Dum’ composed by the maestro RD Burman for the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

Black Eyed Peas surely like to sample from Bollywood. This Grammy-winning single from their 2005 Monkey Business is based around two Bollywood tunes both composed by Kalyanji - Anandji & sung by Asha Bhonsle. The songs ‘Aye Naujawan Hai Sab Kuchh Yahan’ from the 1972 film Apradh provide multiple elements while ‘Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar ka Diwana’ from 1978 film Don provides hook/riff to the composition.

The electronic music duo from Belfast has cited in their interviews the fascination & inspiration Indian/Bollywood music holds in their lives. Besides, the track from their latest album contains a sample from ‘Jab Andhera Hota Hai’, taken from the 1973 Bollywood film Raja Rani, recorded by Asha Bhosle & Bhupinder Singh, again composed by R. D. Burman.

The critically acclaimed American Rapper for his conversational lyrics utilizes the beats on his latest album produced by Kenny Beats which samples from a tune named ‘Sannata’ from a 1980 film of the same name composed by Rajesh Roshan. 

In this song, Dan Snaith’s electronic music moniker Caribou samples from a funky RD Burman tune ‘Are Dil Se Dil Mile’ from a 1980 film Bulundi.

Grimes has multiple times expressed her love for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Magnum Opus Bajirao Mastani. For this particular song, she goes further & samples from the tune ‘Deewani Mastani’ composed by Bhansali himself for the film. 

This is a masterclass in how to flip a sample from the unlikeliest of places. Four Tet has used a Santoor riff from an album composed of devotional songs dedicated to Lord Hanuman made by Hari Om Sharan.

This Freddie Gibbs tune produced by Madlib uses a sample from an extraordinary tune composed by RD Burman that features Jazz Veteran Louiz Banks on the keys. The tune ‘Dance Music’ is one of the themes from a soundtrack of a film named Mukti from 1977.

Read more: The DELICIOUS Beat Orchestrations & Lyricism of Madvillainy