Yes, we love listening to old songs and they have a special place in our heart. Yes, we are open to listening them again and again. What we don’t like though, is Bollywood repackaging them and completely ruining our memories of the song. The list is long. The latest one to join the bandwagon is Ittefaq Se which is a reprised version Raat Baaki. Even Judwaa 2 had remixed a couple of songs from the original Judwaa – Tan Tana Tan and Oonchi Hai Building.

Then, we have Saara Zamaana from Kaabil. It bears no resemblance to the original song which had Amitabh Bachchan wearing an outfit attached with lightbulbs. Also, the lyrics and the music have been tinkered with. What remains the same is the mukhda. We don’t see any sense at all behind such remixes. Do the producers want to lure the fans of the old songs? Well, they are doing a better job of pissing them off.

Certainly, the producers are not out of ideas. You can justify if a low-budget film uses old songs because it doesn’t have the resources to produce new ones. But, the biggest production houses in the country are doing it.

Some years back, artists like DJ Aqeel and Bombay Vikings were remixing old songs with great success. But, it had its space. To see such similar things happen in movies too, is disturbing. Couldn’t AR Rahman have produced an original instead of totally destroying the original Humma Humma.

What’s also disturbing is the frequency with which these remixes are being manufactured. Already in 2017, we have Raees, Kaabil, Ok Jaanu and Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya repackaging old songs. Kaabil has gone a mile ahead and repackaged Dil Kya Kare on top of Saara Zamaana. The absolute zenith of things is seen in Commando 2 where they have remixed a song as recent as Hare Krishna, Hare Rama from Bhool Bhulaiyya.  

Some might justify that it’s safer to use an old tune which is already successful, than place your bets on a new tune. We sometimes think it’s just simply a case of a director or a producer being a huge fan of a song. So much so, that they want to re-use it and make it their own way in their latest production. 

Whatever it is, most people are not enjoying these remixes. Why can’t we have fresher numbers? Our ears are already tired of listening to old tunes.