Adverts for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are showing on British television. Famous names including Judi Dench, Dev Patel and Maggie Smith star in the film, which is directed by Oscar-winning John Madden. That funky sitar track playing in the trailer is called Streets of Calcutta. It is by Ananda Shankar, who is the newphew of Ravi Shankar and worked with Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s.
Thomas Newman has composed the soundtrack for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. He has made many iconic soundtracks including American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption and Finding Nemo. So I'm surprised Ananda Shankar's track has been used to promote the film. Why the promoters needed to use such an iconic track when the film's own soundtrack has been composed by Thomas Newman is beyond me. Perhaps his score did not sound Indian enough or exotic enough to use?
The film soundtrack releases on the 27th of February and there are no preview clips online to listen to. Streets of Calcutta is not included in the tracklisting and it's sad that Ananda Shankar is not credited. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel releases on the 24th of February, so we have to wait and see if Streets of Calcutta is used in the film.
When Bollywood borrows tracks from the western world, a huge fuss is usually made and people complain that the Indian film industry lacks originality. I don't think we should make a huge fuss when western film makers borrow from India, but they should at least be given due credit for their work. Especially in this case, where a song is being used to sell a film.
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