Sanctity Of Music – Ruined
On one side, iconic television shows from 90s and early 2000s like Ramayana, Shaktimaan, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai are being brought back on television to replenish memories of most 90s kids, beloved T-Series on the other hand has taken up the mission to destroy the melodies which shaped the life of the same kids.
When I started my research to find out why people like listening to remixed version of an old song, I found out that there is actually science behind how familiarity makes people more likely to enjoy music. A whole new original composition takes time to catch on and who knows how long that would take.
I personally do not have an issue with remakes UNLESS AND UNTIL they are done in a tasteful way or is of a song which wasn’t as good before (eg. Aankh Maare, no offence to those who liked the older version) or it is actually helping the story move forward in a film (ummmnone, I know). The onus is on the labels and producers because they have lost the risk taking ability. The amount of money involved in the making of the film makes them not want to take a risk and to generate songs that are definite hits. Remaking an old song proves to be a better decision business wise. Producers want remakes, because that’s what the audience demands. It’s not as if there’s no demand and someone is composing remakes just because it’s easier. You can go on to Youtube and check this for yourself, the original songs which were uploaded about 6+ years ago has lesser views in comparison with the “rehashed” version which was uploaded merely a year ago or even a few hours ago. Our attention span as an audience is reducing day by day. Not everyone has the time to explore new music and make the judgementwhether a particular song is good or not. We as a society have failed to encourage musicians who have only been producing original music.
Amit Trivedi, one of India’s leading Music Composers said in one of his interviews that “I don’t like it(remakes). It’s too lame.” He added, “The composers today are not capable and talented enough, to create their own original song.” He has himself done a remake of Yeh Jo HalkaHalka Suroor Hai by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and admitted that he had to do it because the producers were forcing him. He also mentioned that because he’s music is more “experimental” and “niche”, many producers and labels don’t wish to work with him.
The reason why most people have a problem with these copies of the original song (mostly) done by T-Series is because they do it just for the sake of earning views on Youtube. Some examples of this are- Urvasi by A R Rahman, Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi by Falguni Pathak, an old classic Mere Angne Mein by Amitabh Bachchanwhich is nothing but objectification of women(so was the original song, nothing new there) and of course the new martyr- Masakali by A R Rahman. Something which is not surprising is that most of these are remade by the King Of Music Plagiarism- Tanishk Bagchi. Okay fine you’re right maybe I shouldn’t be this harsh. It’s not like he is not “talented”, he has composed one of the nicest songs of last year i.e Ve Maahi from the movie Kesari. Not only that, but Bolna from Kapoor & Sons was also composed by him. But then again, if he is so skilled then why blatantly recreate songs when so many people, including the original composers, singers and lyricists despise them. And why are YouTube views even a yardstick to measure a song’s popularity!? It is such a skewed concept especially during times when ‘how to get paid views on youtube’ is literally a click away. It is a strange, wrong way to be gauging a song’s success.
I may go on and on and rant about how disgusting remakes are but ultimately the blame is ours, of the audience who have been encouraging these songs ever since they started coming out. We have to stop. We need to stop encouraging these cringe-fests by not contributing our one valuable view count to it. We need to stop playing them at events. It is nothing but an insult to the original artists who worked months, years in some cases to create music that can last for generations (yes, quoting Rahmansir’s tweet). We stop streaming them, they (hopefully) stop with this adulteration.