Remixes Of Classics- A Job Well Done?

The other day while listening to the radio I happened to come across the title soundtrack of ‘Dum Maro Dum’. Of course, it wasn’t going to be exactly the same as the original, the musicians had given it their own twist and added their personal touches. But what it made me think was that so many of the old hit songs have been remixed and featured in movies off late. Yet many of them have been completely devoid of what the original songs had an element of – class.

It has happened more than once that a classic, popular number has been repackaged, remixed and in the process, lost the essential qualities of the original. More often than not, there are lewd overtones in the lyrics which, for some reason, has now become a way to make the song appeal to the masses.

While all this is true, there have been a few remixes which have only added a good beat and few extra lines and actually succeeded in making the song catchy and fun.

So let’s take a look at the five such recent popular remixes of old hindi hit songs:

1. 

   Yeh Mera Dil- Featured in the remake of the 1978 hit Don, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, this song  was originally picturised on Helen and Amitabh Bachchan.  While the original was sung by Asha Bhosle, the version of this song in the 2006 hit remake Don: The Chase Begins Again was recorded by Sunidhi Chauhan. It was an average song lacking the wow- factor as nothing about the song made you sit up and take notice. Though one would have to admit that it was one of the few songs that hadn’t been undone by unnecessary additions to it.

2. 

   Dum Maro Dum– This song is a part of the recently released film Dum Maro Dum. It is an item number featuring Deepika Padukone. Sure, Deepika has done a good job in the video but somehow something about this version of the song was rather disappointing. It felt like injustice had been done to the original by taking away all of its class and adding lyrics which could’ve easily been done without. Even Zeenat Aman, who had performed in the original song from the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna in 1971 reportedly disapproved of it. The lyrics of the song have been written by Jaideep Sahni and the song has been sung by the talented Anushka Manchanda. The lyrical error aside, the song otherwise has a fun feel to it and has attracted a lot of attention, adding to the popularity of the film.

3. 

   Laila O laila– This remix has proved to be yet another let down. Another item number performed by Yana Gupta for the recently released film Chalo Dilli, the suggestive lyrics added to the song are a misfit and are at loggerheads with the hint of subtle innocence the original seemed to have. The famous song from the 1980 film Qurbani has been re-done for Lara Dutta’s maiden production. Even if it is not compared to the original, the song by itself doesn’t have an appeal to it. Overall, I think a better job could’ve been done with it.

4. 

   Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo– This song was sung by Mika Singh for the Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor starrer Thank You. While the song can be passed off as a decent remix of the old hit, it is another one of those songs that make one question the concept of adding crass lyrics in order to add ‘something different’ to the song.  Not one of the best remixes of recent times.

5. 

   Bachna Ae Haseeno– This song was the title track of the movie by the same name starring Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba. Most of the lyrics of the original that was sung by Kishore Kumar were retained in this remix featuring Sumit Kumar and Vishal Dadlani (of the popular Vishal-Shekhar duo). With the addition of beats to make you dance and a little rap here and there, it was overall a job well done.

I may not have praised too many of the songs here but that is not to say that there haven’t been many that have been deserving of it. All these songs have been received well and have been among the most played songs on the radio too. The only reason to point out the shortcomings in them was to question the need to add a touch of vulgarity to the songs to attract mass appeal. And this is when these songs are the least in need of something to popularise them since their success in the original form makes you notice the remix too at the onset itself.

It is always good to see the musicians try new things even if it means just redoing an old number, but I hope that we get to see a little more creativity from the lyricists in the near future.

The opinions expressed in this articles are the author’s personal opinions. Any other thoughts contrary to these are welcome. 🙂