The remakes of classic songs
KAKALI DAS
Do you remember the song ‘Masakali’?
The dulcet tunes of Mohit Chauhan, A.R. Rahman’s signature compositional charm in the lanes of Dilli through Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s lens.
Sigh! What a song it was! Imagine my annoyance on waking up one fine day to the worst remake of it! Far be it for this to be a one-off thing, remixing old songs using modern music components is now a trend that refuses to die.
It was in the 90s that remixes first entered the Indian musicscape. DJ Bally Sagoo burst into the scene with his song ‘Chura Liya,’ which infused the classic song with Western sounds like rap and reggae. The song’s widespread appeal kick-started the culture of remixes.
Soon, the band ‘Instant Karma’ was formed, which came out with what they called “newer versions,” of older songs like ‘Dil Kya kare,’ and ‘Hum Bewafa’ – soon to be followed by famously scandalous Harry Anand remixes like ‘Kaanta Laga’ and ‘Kaliyon Ka Chaman.’ But while the younger generation was enthusiastic about these remixes, industry giants didn’t take to them very kindly.
“I feel you shouldn’t disturb the original” – Alka Yagnik
Music composer Naushad claimed that DJs were taking their masterpieces and turning them “into a circus!”
And singing legend Lata Mangeshkar called them “ downright obscene”. Devarsi Ghosh points out in an article for Scroll, that up until the mid-2000s, remixes existed as part of the indie pop movement, parallel to the music of the Hindi film industry.
This changed when – ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ hit the screens. For most audiences, seeing Ranbir Kapoor take on his father’s song was exciting, the newer stanzas were actually fun, and the concept in itself was refreshing.
When it became successful however, it set a template for remixes to follow. This template was perfected in 2012 when ‘The Disco Song’ from Karan Johar’s ‘Student Of The Year’ hit the screens. This remix was first to be used as a large-scale marketing tool – a trend that quickly caught on bringing us to this point in time when every big budget movies seems to have at least one song remake used solely to generate buzz.
“It is not a bad idea but when it gets too repetitive, a million people do that, then it becomes like, you know, overdone and become a cliché, and it becomes annoying.” – A.R. Rahman
While label head Bhushan Kumar points out that these remixes help to keep the older songs relevant, a lot of fans today share Rahman’s sentiments asking for old songs “to not be ruined.” Research suggests that a lot of the fans’ negative reactions could be because of the stark difference in music trends. The changed musical components end up alienating the listener.
People also establish a major part of their identity between the ages 15 and 25, ascribing many autobiographical memories to the songs they would listen to back then. Added to this is the ‘reminiscence bump,’ a psychological phenomenon among older adults which enhances the intensity of events spanning our adolescence and early adulthood. And then of course, there’s plain old nostalgia.
Most of us are guilty of looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses, and songs add to this by being one of the surest ways of evoking nostalgia. A study even showed how during the pandemic, people would listen to nostalgia-inducing songs to escape the present and find comfort in the ‘good old days.’ Naturally, when the source of that comfort is tampered with, it might be seen as an attempt to tamper with your happiness.
Interestingly, though many fans are critical of these songs, they are still being consumed widely, and becoming chart-topping hits. “If a creator is creating, making a remake, then the audience is also lapping it up. As long as the audience is enjoying it and consuming it, the labels are getting their money. So they will create. It’s a cycle. The day the audience stops, then it will stop,” a music director said.
And, it’s not just about their success upon release – even the process of creation is easier for these remixes. The song being remixed is generally a yesteryear super hit, eliminating the risk factor, and the lack of originality reduces the time required to make it. The fact that big music labels like T-series usually own the rights to the original songs is an added advantage, which makes producing remixes an economically viable option.
But, how does this impact music? Many musicians argue that in the attempt to run behind a ‘hit song’, the priority has shifted from creativity to making quick money using a successful template. This is a business decision rather than musical decision. And the original singers, composers and lyricists are rarely the ones who end up benefiting from remakes. In most cases, neither do they profit economically and nor are they consulted creatively.
Unlike today, these songs date back to a different time when singers and composers especially were less empowered and rarely had any idea about or stakes in the ownership of their own music. Take the recent remake of Falguni Pathak’s iconic 90s hit ‘Maine Payal Hain Chankai,’ for instance. Pathak opened up about not being able to fight a legal battle against the remake, since she had signed off rights to the ownership of her music. But there is a counter-argument to be made in favour of remixes.
Kirby Ferguson, in his web series, ‘Everything is a remix,’ argues that remixes are necessary for cultural evolution, since everything new involves copying, transforming and combining ideas, behaviours and skills. He illustrates this using examples like the printing press which was made out of movable type, ink, paper and screw press, among other things, which have all existed from much before.
And if we think about it, the same can be said for any new invention. Many musicians use melodies, lyrics or other components of songs from musicians they look up to. Rock band Led Zeppelin would take elements from Willie Dixon songs, while the intro for Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ was inspired by a Killing Joke’s song ‘Eighties.’
Closer home, R.D. Burman’s hit ‘Chura Liya,’ is inspired from ‘If it’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium,’ and the melody for Cliff Richard’s ‘Theme for a Dream’ inspired ‘Pal Pal Har Pal’ from Lage Raho Munna Bhai.
The lines become even more blurry when we look at different forms and styles of music. For example, many artists have created renditions of ghazals, geets, qawwalis and more that were originally written and recorded much earlier. Amir Khusrao’s famous qawwali ‘Man Kunto Maula,’ has multiple distinct renditions by the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abi Sampa, Javed Bashir & Ali Azmat, to name a few.
It’s even made it to mainstream Bollywood movies such as ‘Maximum’ and ‘Gunday.’ Hafiz Hoshiyarpur’s ‘Mohabbat Karne Wale,’ was sung by Mehdi Hassan and Farida Khanum, but its modern interpretations by Papon and Arooj Aftab are equally loved – with Arooj’s rendition of it even winning her a Grammy.
Ferguson’s idea then reframes the way we look at remixes altogether, showing how every work of art is inspired from other works of art in one way or another, essentially making everything a ‘remix.’ But this argument can’t be divorced from the current context of the Indian music industry. And in these circumstances, the consensus is that remixes don’t stem from an attempt to create something new, but from a blatant desire for profiting off of a template that works.
We have many talented musicians, and as Suanshu Khurana points out in the Indian Express, the problem isn’t a lack of originality, but producers having a lack of faith in the musicians’ ability to create original compositions that will be successful.
Maybe what the Indian music landscape needs is exactly this – a shift from only looking at music as something to capitalize on to viewing it as something that adds meaning to everything around us.
How do you look at remixes?
[Images from different sources]
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