Recreated whiffs mark the new sound of music

Just a few days ago, dancer-actress Nora Fatehi thanked her fans for giving "so much pyar" to her latest song "Ek toh kum zindagani", which is a recreated version of the hit track "Pyar do pyar lo" from the 1986 film "Jaanbaaz". As music lovers are showering love on recreations by adding on to their views and likes on social media, music labels, composers and singers are happily joining forces to offer more and more old hits with new packaging.

True-blue musiclovers feel Bollywood's era of recreations marks a vital change it is the first sign that the industry is losing connect with original music. New-age music, however, are happily going about it. As long as the craze lasts, the moolah will flow.

Talk about old songs with a new twist, and names like T-Series, Neha Kakkar and Tanishk Bagchi pop up. "O saki saki", "Aankh maarey" and "Dilbar" are some of the recent hits given by these three.

"It's always difficult to recreate hit songs. One might think that recreation is the easiest thing to do but recreating a song actually means double the responsibility. You can't distort the essence of the original song. So you have to be really careful while composing the old songs," Tanishk told .

Weighing in, Bhushan Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of T-Series, told : "If recreations are being made and the listeners and viewers are consuming those songs on audio and video platforms, it's a proof that they like these songs. When they reject these songs, gradually the production of such songs will also become less. It's simple demand and supply."

"We recreate the song retaining the old melody, keeping the first few lines intact for recall value. Thereafter, it has new lyrics especially penned for it, a new sound and arrangement. Today's young generation is lapping it up. Many hear the song for first time. Then, when they get to know that a similar song existed 20 years ago, they will, out of curiosity, check out the original, too. Not just us, everyone is doing it because recreations work, if done with thought and care," Kumar added.

Kumar insists recreations are not a passing fad. "We use the essence of the old song and all other aspects are new. Recreations are here to stay."

And he is right. "Made In China", starring Rajkummar Rao and Mouni Roy, is one of the upcoming movies that has new versions of old songs.

Composer duo Sachin-Jigar's "Odhani" features in film "Made In China". It is a modernised rendition of classic Garba song of the same name. Featuring music by Sachin-Jigar and lyrics by Niren Bhatt and Jigar Saraiya, the celebratory song has been sung by Darshan Raval and Neha.

Another song, "Sanedo", in the film is a cheeky and contemporary twist of of an iconic Gujarati song.

Talking about the song, Jigar said: "Once we zeroed in on recreating 'Sanedo', we worked on spicing it up to suit its placement in the film's story. Originally 'Sanedo' is a cult song from Gujarat. It's a song pretty much every Gujarati will know and recognise when the opening notes of the song play. Being so rooted in our culture, we decided to use it for 'Made In China' to let everyone enjoy the flavour of our music with a cheeky and contemporary twist."

But what's really making people dance is the "Naari naari" song that got a modern spin for the upcoming film. It is a new rendition of the1990s Arabic classic "Naari naari".

Others are following suit. The makers of Neil Nitin Mukesh's upcoming movie "Bypass Road" have picked the classic number "So gaya yeh jahan" from the 1988 film "Tezaab" for recreation.

A few months ago, actress Katrina Kaif gave fans a sneak peek into the making of the recreated version of the song "Tip tip barsa pani" from the upcoming film "Sooryavanshi".

( With inputs from IANS )