COOL OR UNCOOL: Music Industry Reacts To Recreating Original Tracks

Today one out of five music albums have a song which is a remake. Some of them are good enough to become hits but a few of them prove to be pain to the ears. Let’s see what does the music industry think about this fad...

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COOL OR UNCOOL: Music Industry Reacts To Recreating Original Tracks
Taking the recent example of Mahi Ve from the film Wajah Tum Ho which is an assault both on eyes and ears, we spoke to the people in the industry and tried getting their views on the same. Take a look:

Amaal Mallik
Amaal Mallik
Image Source: songsbling

This is the trend right now. When the revamp is done in a cool way, it works for the film, but if everyone starts doing it, it can get monotonous. Now every album has one song that’s recreated. I have done Chul (Kapoor & Sons), Soch Na Sake (Airlift) and made them bigger than the originals, wherein the creators of the song have called me up and praised my version. It’s more about finding yourself in the song and taking it to the next level. My motto while recreating a song is that I should make the track sound at par with the original, if not better.


Manoj Muntashir

Manoj Muntashir

Image Source: just-showbiz

I think I have made the maximum amount of remakes and I believe they have a soul of their own. If you can add a few contemporary colours and bring in a new flavour to the song, then there is nothing wrong with it. I don’t look down upon remakes as it's more of a tribute to the classics. Also it creates a recall value for the audiences. Kala Chashma (Baar Baar Dekho) became a super hit only because the original song was very popular. At the same time, remakes should not be the flag bearer of the album. If every song is a remake then somewhere down the line we are accepting that we cannot create new melodies. One should try and enhance the song and not degrade it.


Kala Chashma Still

Image Source: youtube/zeemusiccompany

Amit Trivedi
Amit Trivedi
Image Source: songsbling
Rehashing an old Bollywood number is not cool at all. If I am assigned to compose music for a film and if I have a good relationship with the director, only then I would remake a song. Like I did for Vikas Bahl in Queen with Hungama and now it’s just for maintaining the relationship or else I am not interested in remaking an old song. That’s not me.

Hungama Queen Still
Image Source: youtube/viacom18motionpictures

Neeti Mohan
Neeti Mohan
Image Source: famouspeopleindiaworld

I feel it’s a good way to revive an old song. There are times that the youngsters do not know a cult hit. When you revive these songs everyone including the present and the previous generation connect with the track. A lot of people have come to me and told me that reviving an old song led us to hear the original track which in itself is a beautiful thing. So here’s an old melody which had a limited number of audiences to it and now it has double the fan following than it had.

Sulaiman Merchant
Sulaiman Merchant
Image Source: starsunfolded

I am actually not against the idea. Even we have revived the cult hit Tum Dillagi by Nusrat Ali Khan sahab. I feel it’s a good way to take you down to the memory lane and there are youngsters who are 15-18 years in age and do not know a song. These songs not just need to be preserved but also need to be passed on to our future generations.


Thumbnail Image Source: youtube/t-series/sonymusicindia