Analyzing Restructured form of Qawwalis in Hindi Cinema

Abstract

This paper views the (re)structured form of Qawwali, a genre of music, in the Hindi
cinema. It explores the meaning of Qawwali, its traditional form and looks at what were
the changes and how the changes were brought about into it after they started getting
featured in films. In this paper some select Qawwalis have been taken up for literary
analysis. These Qawwalis have first been translated into English followed by an
analysis. The analysis includes, lyrical analysis, analysis of the Qawwali based on the
plot of the film and also how it has been woven with the life of the protagonist of the
film, and finally analyzing whether the Qawwali featured in the film actually fulfils the
function of Qawwali.