Although I try to keep hearing latest Bollywood songs; I don’t like them much. I am not a music buff as such and do not use headphones as often as it is a norm these days. But when in mood (which is primarily when I am little high); I like to hum/listen to old songs; preferably from the days of Kumar Sanu. The 80s and 90s have given us kind of music that we do not hear these days. And once again, it was a privilege of being a kid who grew up in 1990s.
I remember those days. The TV we had at home had 20 channels and somehow, the cable service provider had designed an algorithm which repeated 3 channels in 20. How did he do that, I do not know till date. Luckily, he showed Channel [V]. And that introduced me to the music I moved on to like and adore.
Apart from the Sunday morning Rangoli and Chitrahaar which played old Hindi songs in the major part of the show; Channel V played new Bollywood songs and the independent pop music- both original and remixes. And this pop music of 1990s was amazing.
The one song that reminds me of the beauty of the remixes of those times is Dil Kya Kare by Instant Karma. Remixed by Instant Karma band and beautifully sung by Shaan, a singer ignored these days, the song transports you to some kind of heaven altogether. And it is not just the music I am talking about. If you care to watch the video of this song, that is one beautiful storyline. Maybe it is my romance with the music of that era or this particularly song is really awesome; I hear this song on loop whenever I get time. You can watch the video here. Whatever time I get, I try to hear those classics. There are not many for the simple reason- creating classics isn’t easy.
And it is not just one song, The Punjabi bhangra songs by Baba Sehgal, Mika, Daler Mehndi, Jassi and others had pleasant tunes. Those were the songs that actually soothed the body or forces to stand and shake legs. The mandatory Hinglish rap these days by hip hoppers just take the fun out of the songs.
And then today, I switch on TV to see old songs being massacred by the ‘young fresh composers’. The process is simple- pick an old hit hindi song, add modern beats, throw a meaningless, out of tune rap in between and viola- you have a 5 minute track that hurts both eyes and ears. The murder of the original Punjabi pop Kala Chashma, done by the music composers of the movie Baar Baar Dekho stings me. Youtube says it has 300 million+ views. I really wonder how many were like me who saw the video only once how the fabulous original has been re-created. Sadly, it has been ruined. The numbers will add up on Youtube website but that won’t tell you the pathetic quality of it.
Amit Trivedi, one of the few composers in today’s time whom I like to hear, recently said that music composers these days are afraid of experimenting. And that is why they use tried, tested and approved songs for their movies with today’s flavour. I think he hit the nail in the head. There have been so many disasters- Humma Humma(OK Jaanu), Laila(Raees), Aise Na Mujhe Tum Dekho(Wajah Tum Ho), Tamma Tamma Loge(Badrinath ki Dulhaniya). Judwaa 2 has two of them. Pick a movie and there is a good chance that you will find one. These guys have even made a mess of Jaanu Meri Jaan song of old Shaan. Terrible.
Every trend loses its charm and changes and I often wish for these remixes to die. And we can have Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, KK again to sing for us more often. And Bollywood can again create timeless classics.
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