MUMBAI: Alka Yagnik on golden era songs being used for remakes: “Those are masterpieces, you cannot touch them”

MUMBAI: Singer Alka Yagnik, who is one of the most renowned names in the Bollywood playback industry, has sung several hits in her career that are still being enjoyed and loved by the music enthusiasts. Songs like ‘Ek Do Teen Chaar’, ‘Chamma Chamma’, ‘Choli Ke Peeche’, ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’, ‘Chura Ke Dil Mera’ and many more are still being played at parties and events. But in this age of remakes, songs have been revamped and new flavors have been introduced for the modern audience. Popular 90s songs have been altered by composers, who have added rap and lively music to the songs. Speaking about the same, the singer stated in the most recent Melody Tales episode that she is cool with their songs being remixed but not the songs from the golden age.

During aninterview with Bollywood Bubble, Alka talked about the short shelf life of songs these days. She mentioned that after becoming popular, songs don’t stick around for very long. She said, “The thing about the 90s songs is their popularity grows with each passing day which I’ve never thought of.“

While talking about Bollywood using golden era songs for remakes, she said, “They are doing anything new to it but they have changed the rhythm pattern by adding rap and all. They completely modify the song differently. And then people say ‘Wow, the song became so popular‘. I tell them that the song was already a hit but people have just added other elements and re-released it again. It’s fine if our songs are being remade but if Lata didi (Mangeshkar), and Asha didi (Bhosle) songs are being remade then what can we say? We are nothing in front of them. When the songs of the Golden Era are being revamped, it breaks my heart because those are masterpieces. You cannot even touch them. According to me, they should not be touched.“
In the interview, Alka also walks us through how to deal with item songs and lyrics with double-meaning. She believes that in the past, playback singing was a ‘reputed’ career.