The world’s most prolific film industry isn’t based in Hollywood but in Mumbai, the Indian city formerly known as Bombay. “Bollywood” movies usually sport prominent soundtracks whose elaborations of Indian pop spark lavish dance numbers that Busby Berkeley might have appreciated. Romance and Hindu mythology are popular themes, but Bollywood also goes for crime and espionage flicks.
The Australian rock band The Bombay Royale plays with the Bollywood concept, musically and thematically. Their latest album, The Island of Dr. Electro, is more or less the soundtrack for an imaginary Bollywood movie about a nefarious Bond-like villain operating from a Pacific Ocean lair. The music draws from a palette as eclectic, if not more so, than usual in Bollywood musicals. The shimmering, mirage-like melodies of Indo-pop converge with a gamut of retro rock and the sound of ‘60s spy movies and spaghetti westerns.
No surprise that the album’s first single., the Bengali-language “Henna Henna,” was released with a music video in Bollywood stle.
