Poor copies of great originals

IN DAYS such as these where the entire world is in a lockdown mode, films fans and aficionados turn to old favourites for a comforting feeling.

- Gautam Chintamani

The familiarity of the images and sounds brings to minds memories of another day when the world was not besieged by a pandemic. Amid such emotions, the news of the song ‘Masakali’ from Delhi-6 getting a makeover might feel like nothing less than a body blow. The remix called ‘Masakali 2.0’ was slammed by the original composer AR Rahman, and the Oscar and Grammy winning musician’s anguish was echoed by scores of fans.

Remix phenomenon

The soundtrack of Delhi-6 (2009) is considered one of Rahman’s best works in the new millennium and penned by Prasoon Joshi with Mohit Chauhan’s vocals, the wildly popular ‘Masakali’ went on to become the anthem of the nation. As expected, the development once again brought to the fore the debate about remixes and such, besides getting legions of Rahman’s admires to come up with a slew of lists of songs created by the ‘Mozart of Madras’ that should never be remixed.