Mohit Chauhan on Masakali 2.0: ‘If you make a new Sholay and add anything to it, it ruins experience of original’

The singer behind the original Masakali song from Delhi-6, Mohit Chauhan has weighed in on the new Masakali 2.0.

Singer Mohit Chauhan says there was no point for the recreated version of Masakali to be named after the original as it doesn’t even sound like the track he sang for Delhi 6. The original track was penned by Prasoon Joshi and scored by AR Rahman for the 2009 film, starring Abhishek Bachchan-Sonam Kapoor starrer.

Mohit Chauhan says the new Masakali doesn’t sound like the original.

“I heard the song. But it doesn’t sound like Masakali. So they could’ve called it something else. But to say it’s Masakali and then ride on the name of the song to make something else... If you make a new Sholay and then add anything to it, it ruins the experience of the original,” Mohit told PTI.

On Wednesday, Bhushan Kumar’s T-series launched the remix of the song, dubbed Masakali 2.0, from composer Tanishk Bagchi and singers Tulsi Kumar and Sachet Tandon. The remix has not gone down well with fans and the original creative team behind the song with both Rahman and Joshi expressing their disappointment.

The singer said Masakali is an iconic song and its recreation will naturally affect the creative team.

“It (recreations) has been happening for too long and it’s too much now. Initially, it wasn’t as much, then some worked and you felt, ok, good, these clicked but now it has become a heard mentality. There are remixes of remixes now. I don’t know if there’s a dearth of creativity which why people are piggy backing on songs, or if there’s a business angle for the labels. But I feel ultimately the creator should have control over where the song is going. Because it’s in public and everyone can hear it. If you want to do something with it, contact the original people and see if you can get it.” The Tum Se Hi crooner said if people stopped liking remixes, the trend will end.

“Everyone needs to pitch in, tell the creative people that this isn’t good... If the audience starts rejecting, then you’ll have to stop doing it. Otherwise, you’ll be just wasting time and money.

“Music comes from the heart, creativity should be retained. It’s my request to music companies to promote originality. We have a lot of talented composers here. That sentiment needs to be built up, to work on more original music and stories,” he added.

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