Remixed and Red Hot

8220;My father offered me double the money not to do it,8221; says 20-year-old Shefali Jariwala, who was paid Rs 10,000 for the sensual number. She just worked on her mother, who convinced her dad.

With the music industry in the dumps veteran analysts like Amod Mehra say that in the past four years sales are off 60 per cent, record companies have hit upon a surefire formula: Take an old Hindi film song, rework it around a catchy beat, give it an urban sound, and then produce an erotic video around it8212;the racier the better!

And, yes, no legal hassles 8212; all the songs come virtually free, gifts from the Copyright Law that allows anybody to re-record any song more than two years old, by paying minimal royalty to the owners. And the hot, thumping videos are driving elusive customers straight into music stores. 8220;About 70 per cent of these videos make money, which is remarkable in any situation, but especially welcome in today8217;s depressed music market,8221; says trade analyst Mandar Thakur, adding, 8220;The labels desperately need cash flow and these fast-moving products provide them a quick, easy buck.8221;

No one8217;s pursuing this steamy genre more aggressively than T-Series, a company synonymous with secrecy and fast profits. In fact, the T-Series factory turns out videos at a speed only matched by the yellow Ferrari F360 Modena that pulls into the company8217;s heavily-guarded complex the ride belongs to the label8217;s 25-year-old managing director, Bhushan Kumar. The girls chosen for these productions are usually eager, attractive rookies, and the shooting takes no longer than a couple of days. The end result: titillated audiences and hits churned out for cheap.

For the studio work, it8217;s the hit-maker Radhika Rao, who directed an array of money-spinners for her ex-employers, Universal, including Kaliyon Ka Chaman, before breaking out on her own.

T-Series refuses to disclose how many copies of Kaanta Laga DJ Doll Remix they have sold company policy, they say. When one attempts to reach the firm8217;s top personnel, they are invariably meeting with their advocates. Always a pariah, the 20-year-old company refuses to join the recording industry8217;s collective body, IMI, so no 8216;8216;official8217;8217; sales figures are available. Yet industry sources reveal that DJ Doll is selling lakhs of copies estimates swing wildly from 5 to 15 lakhs, and with an average cost of only Rs 8-10 lakh per video, investing in this formula makes simple business sense.

8220;The video8217;s Kaanta Laga sales are phenomenal,8221; agrees Ajay Kapoor, T-Series8217; evasive Vice President, adding, 8220;Remixes rule the current scenario and the future is for well-packaged products 8212; be it the tune, the video, or even the artiste.8221;

Surf through the music channels for about twenty minutes and you instantly see what Kapoor is referring to: the airwaves are flooded with raunchy remixes, some of which include a girl being bathed by her lover in a foam-filled tub Tumse Milke, telephone-sex operators visiting their clients Wada Raha, a skimpily-clad girl gyrating without restraint from inside a train as a voyeur heatedly pursues her in a car Leena on the Chuk Chuk, a cluster of curvy women probing each other sensually in the dark Kaliyon Ka Chaman and, of course, Kaanta Laga.

Apart from these songs, television is rife with videos in the same vein, with at least ten more due for release soon. According to insiders, the boldest involves a female boxer wearing nothing but her shorts and gloves.

Despite the promise of quick, easy money not all music companies are plunging into the smutty genre. 8220;I think sex always sells; but it8217;s not the only thing that sells,8221; says Suresh Thomas, managing director of BMG Crescendo. He adds, 8220;The biggest hits have all been clean cut, wholesome entertainment. Sex is just the easy way out. If a record company is confident about its artist, sex doesn8217;t need to be part of the sales package.8221;

Yet with the industry in arguably its worst slump ever, Sex is a critical part of the survival process.

8220;Multiple issues plague the business today,8221; says Tips8217; managing director, Kumar Taurani. He adds, 8220;We are facing piracy, copyright violations, the phenomenon of radio, paucity of music talent and indifferent audiences8212; so we have had to invent ways to remain in business.8221; Many experts argue that Universal pioneered this genre of videos, starting with Kaliyon Ka Chaman. Yet, according to the company8217;s rotund managing director, Vijay Lazarus, the phenomenon of sensual dances is hardly a new occurrence: 8220;Helen8217;s cabarets still look provocative today. Hindi film songs are full of sex8212;look at Piya Tu, Caravan, Mera Naam Shabnam8212;they8217;re all about big chests and swinging hips.

So it has always been present in our culture; it8217;s just that today8217;s dance sequences are packaged in a more modern form.8221;

Other players in the steamy video market concur, 8220;Who said Indians are conservative when it comes to sex?8221; asks Tips8217; Taurani.8221; Everything we see today on music television today has happened in India for centuries so really there is nothing much that is new. Also, with these videos we tend to recover our money in ten days8217; time.8221;

Yet Universal8217;s Lazarus does concede that Indian audiences have become increasingly permissive, and generally more receptive to the steamy stuff. 8220;Of course, sex has become more acceptable to Indians recently, especially if you8217;re a person who watches television. Western TV has made us more liberal.8221;

Although the girls who star in these videos are paid poorly by the record labels, hit songs ensure that these daring lasses gleefully bump and grind all the way to the bank. 8220;I have given over 35 performances all over the country since October and I charge Rs 75,000 for my most basic sequence, which lasts 15 minutes,8221; says dusky 23-year-old Kaliyon Ka Chaman star, Meghna Naidu, who was paid Rs 10,000 for her role in the video. 8220;I8217;ve also received lots of offers for the

future8212;lead roles in Bollywood films, item numbers, and videos 8212;but after being the star of a super hit like Kaliyon, I have to be careful to select the right project next, or it might all be over,8221; adds the Mumbai native who used to coach tennis at camps in the US during her summer vacations.

While Meghna starred in three Telegu films before she was chosen for the hit music video, other girls have literally been plucked off the streets. The story of how Kaanta Laga8217;s star, Shefali Jariwala, a pale engineering student was 8220;discovered8221; seems straight out of a fairy tale or a cheesy 8217;80s movie: 8220;Last December I was shopping at bustling Hill Road when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was music director, Radhika Rao I didn8217;t know who she was at the time. Radhika had noticed me from a distance and trailed me for 20 minutes just watching my demeanour, my movements. Then she walked up to me, introduced herself, and asked me if I was interested in doing a music video. I was hesitant at first as I had never danced or acted before. But Radhika was relentless and simply refused to take 8220;no8221; for an answer.8221;

Despite their varied backgrounds, all the girls who feature in these videos are remarkably comfortable with their sexuality: 8220;Life is dull in the slums so we have to expose the masses to glamour, bikinis miniskirts and bras8212;it8217;s what they want to see,8221; says 20-year old Aashnay Saraf, the lead star in Leena on the Chuk Chuk. As for fresh-faced model Deepa Chari, who features in Kaanta Laga playing the secondary role of DJ Doll, the experience taught her important lessons about the music industry. 8220;I come from Chambal village also the home of Bandit Queen, Phoolan Devi, and was crying out of fear in the studio; after the song8217;s success, my confidence has grown. Today, I have no problems showing skin,8221; says the 21-year-old who was paid Rs 6,000 for her efforts. And for Tumse Milke8217;s lithe star, Jasmine Dawda, her conservative Kutchi family8217;s initial opposition to the video was never a deterrent. 8220;As a model it is my duty to help a director create his art. He is asking me for my body not my values and it8217;s my duty to help him achieve his vision,8221; she says emphatically.