In Bollywood, there is a trend of recreating popular non-film songs

- 'Releasing a recreated version of a song at the time of a film's release is sometimes a fruitful choice, but it is not a fool-proof way of promoting a film.'

Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani's recent hit 'Satyaprem Ki Katha' created mild controversy before its release. Singer Ali Sethi's cult song 'Pasuri' has been recreated and included in the film. This popular single was released only a year or two ago and it became so popular that Ali Sethi's 'Pasuri' was still fresh in people's minds, so it was natural to recreate it in 'Satyaprem Ki Katha'. Secondly, the film was announced just days before its release, so a discussion started on whether it is right to recreate a song released in the recent past and include it in the film. While some supported it, some even expressed outrage on social media. When asked about the reaction of the film's director Sameer Vidwans, he says, 'Frankly speaking, we were prepared for its mutually antagonistic feedback. 'Pasuri' is a cult song, so if we recreated it, people were bound to respond to it. We already wanted to include that song in our soundtrack. Yes, it could have had a negative impact on the movie, but we were sure of one thing that the intensity (effectiveness) of the song would add value to our film. I'm glad we were right.'

'Satyaprem Ki Katha' is no exception in this regard. The trend of recreating old Hindi film songs with a few changes is not new. The new thing is that filmmakers are recreating songs that can be said to be relatively new and incorporating them in their new films. This has become a new trend. Recently many movies have used recreations of hit songs that were released barely two years ago. For instance, Sri Lankan singer Yohani's hit single 'Manike Maghe Hithe' was included in Siddharth Malhotra's film 'Thank God' (2022). Similarly, the song 'Jehda Nasha' composed by indie band Faridkot was used in the Ayushmann Khurra starrer Action Hero.

The question is, why are filmmakers motivated to make recreations of such hit singles when they are still fresh in the minds of the audience? Varun Gupta, the marketing man of big budget films like 'Adipurush' and 'Shaho', giving his opinion in this regard, says, 'In my opinion, if a song is recreated with a little thought, it is wise. Its decision is in the hands of actors, producers and directors. Recreations help in the promotion of films which do not have Zaza songs, but if a film has original songs, there is no need to put recreated songs in it.'

Earlier, singer Tony Kakkad's 2018 song 'Coca Cola Too' was recreated for Karthik Aaryan's 2019 film 'Luka Chupi'. Similarly, in 2020, Ayushmann Khurra starrer 'Bala' used musician Hardy Sandhu's chartbuster 'Nah Goriye' which was released two years ago.

Guptaji's opinion is that non-film promotional songs prove to be handy marketing tools. 'Releasing a recreated version of a song on the eve of a film's release is sometimes a fruitful choice to grab people's attention, but if someone asks me if this is a foolproof marketing strategy for a film, my answer would be no.'

There is also a lobby in Bollywood which is not in favor of the recreation 'business' of these songs. Talking about the well-known film reviewer Taran Adarsh, he says without mincing words, 'Remixes of songs help the film in some way. We can give a lot of original stuff, but recreation of songs has become the rule today. Filmmakers think that if a song from a non-film is out of the picture, why not capitalize on its popularity? If you recreate a really popular recent song, it will not be compared to the original song because that song is still fresh in people's minds.'

Anand L., the producer of an action hero, proved the tone in Adarsh's opinion. Says Rai, 'As a maker, I have admitted this and I regret it. The recreation of songs is actually eating away at our bankruptcy in the music industry. It shows that we cannot create anything that touches the heart or that people enjoy listening to. Music is an important part of a film and we cannot borrow it every time. In short, creating original songs is really important.'