Aamir Khan's Dangal isn't the only movie without songs - here are 5 more!

Aamir Khan’s Dangal is soon going to join the list of song-less movies after Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan and Akshay kumar’s Baby!

Aamir Khan’s Dangal is one of the most awaited movies of 2016. The film is going to be different in a lot of aspects, music being one of it. It’s being said that the film will not have songs except a few background scores and promotional songs. I am myself surprised while I am writing this that Aamir is not the first one to take this ‘bold’ step.

When songs had almost become a pratha (ritual which has been practiced for years) in Bollywood there were a few who dared to break the rules. Here is a list of ‘main-stream’ Bollywood movies which defied the rules and opted out of the naach-gaana business.

FAN

Shah Rukh Khan Khan and his director Maneesh Sharma dared to go song-less with their 2016 film FAN and we hope they are not regretting it! According to trade analysts, the film suffered, among other reasons, due to the absence of songs, and in particular, the JabraFan song. While Shah Rukh garnered huge accolades for the VFX effects and his acting, the film failed to make the cut and it was a SRK film.

BABY

Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey’s 2015 action spy thriller BABY too dared to go the no-song way. The Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon starrer not only grossed crores but also raised the bar for Bollywood by giving a no-nonsense thriller. This was not the first time Akshay was involved in an action-thriller. But this was definitely the first time when he didn’t dance in an action-thriller! And fans clearly liked it!

NH 10

2015 thriller NH10, which had Anushka Sharma and Neil Bhoopalam in lead roles, was a story of an urban couple’s encounter with Haryana’s ‘honour killing’ victims. Anushka, who debuted as a producer with this film, used Chill Gaye Naina for promotions but chose to keep the songs away from the serious tone of the story. The young actress uncovered her astute filmi business acumen through this film by going the Hollywood un-Bollywood way. The film not only did well at the box-office but also garnered huge critical acclaim. Not having songs clearly didn’t come in the way of the movie.

A WEDNESDAY

Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher’s A Wednesday also didn’t face the ‘consequences’ of not having songs. Neeraj Pandey showed many directors the way that if the story is gripping and actors are good, the film doesn’t need songs! Not only was the movie a commercial hit but it also received critical acclaim.

BLACK

Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherji starrer BLACK (2005) didn’t have songs too! But, it definitely didn’t affect the success of the film. The film was hugely appreciated by critics and viewers. However, people are still apprehensive about it and the mere thought of going song-less brings frowns on producers’ faces.

While ‘festival’ movies like LunchBox, Dhobhi Ghat boast of their song-less narrative, main stream producers and directors still remain wary of making films minus songs. However good the story or acting be, when it comes to watching movies, we look for ‘total entertainment’, don’t we? A movie is ‘paisa vasool’ only if it provides all of these – comedy, drama, action, romance and SONGS!

Like books are judged by their covers, films in India are judged by its songs (after its cast obviously). And probably there is a strong reason behind it. Songs have been an integral part of our lives. Before movies took over our imagination, stories used to be narrated through small nritya-nataks (dance-dramas). We have always been like this – the culture vultures!

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So tell us which category do you fall in? Do you think a 200 rupee ticket is not worth if it doesn’t have songs or will it depend on the story?

Aamir Khan's Dangal isn't the only movie without songs - here are 5 more!