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| Source: Wikimedia Commons |
It isn’t new practice for music producers to recreate old classics in the form of ‘remixes’ and present them to a younger set of audience with a more ‘current’ and ‘hip’ sound. The genre, which mostly came to prominence in the 90’s, has constantly faced severe criticism from established artists despite being a hit with the masses.
And although the likes of Asha Bhosle have previously dissed the urbanization and “sexualization” of classics from their era’s, there’s no denying that we’ve all ‘addictively’ jammed to at least one of those remixes at one point or another. (Sorry. Not sorry.)
Recently singing legend Lata Mangeshkar also lashed out at the trend, following the recently released remake of her 1973 uptempo classic, ‘Ni Mein Yaar Manana Ni’ from the movie ‘Daag.’ Stating that she does not even have the desire to give it a listen, the celebrated icon insisted that such classics shouldn’t be covered or ‘re-touched.’
In a recent interview with DNA, the Bollywood veteran said, “I haven’t heard this new version. Nor would I want to hear it. So, I wouldn’t want to comment on it. But in principle, I’ve always been opposed to remixes and cover versions of classics. They shouldn’t be touched.”
Comparing the the trend of creating “remixes” to tampering with historical monuments, the Padma Bhushan awardee argued the originals are better left as they are, and do not need any ‘modifications.’
“So many of Pancham’s, Madan Mohan’s and Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s songs have been tampered with; beats and lyrics are modified,” she said. “It’s like rooms being added or removed from the Taj Mahal. These composers knew what they were doing. I don’t think their efforts need any boosting,” she told the publication.
Despite the lack of creativity and originality, might we just add that for any kid who grew up on 90’s music – remixed versions of songs like ‘Kanta Laga’ and ‘Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar’ were our definitive guilty pleasures, and it would be quite hypocritical for us to deny that it’s still hard to imagine most of our Bollywood bashes without some hot and popping remixes being played by the DJ. (The Humma song, anyone?)
Meanwhile, here is the ‘remixed’ version of ‘Yaar Manana Ni’ featuring Vaani Kapoor:
What are your thoughts?