‘Today’s songs are like one-day cricket match; they lack longevity’
It’s time for Bollywood music lovers to go down memory lane and recall the lyrics of old songs through their remixes today. Veteran singercomposer Bappi Lahiri, who has given music to over 650 films in an over four-decadelong career, feels this is happening because today’s lyrics lack the ‘catching power’, which make them forgettable.
Raat Baaki Baat Baaki and Tamma Tamma are a few of Lahiri’s popular hits that were recreated in recent films like Ittefaq (2017) and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017). “Today’s music is not new for me. Though I’ve composed classical music too, my disco songs got more popularity. I never think that my songs have become old. They are recreated even today. That’s why I feel blessed that my songs are always gold,” says Lahiri.
However, ask him why today’s songs fail to have the same connect with listeners, and he says, “Today’s songs are like one-day cricket match. It gets released, gains popularity, but soon people forget it. Why? Because people remember lyrics. If you hear the song Yaad Aa Raha Hai, you will instantly connect with that era (1980s),” he adds.
The problem, he feels, is not with the singers, but with the lyricists. “The music that we get to listen today by singers like Arijit Singh, Ankit Tiwari, KK or Shaan, they all have their unique style and they sing beautifully, but the songs miss on good wordings. The wordings of today’s songs might be meaningful, but they lack the catching power. There are few renowned lyricists left of our era, such as Javed Akhtar, Gulzar and few others, ” says the Disco king.
Besides composing, Lahiri, has even sung melodious songs for yesteryear actors as well for young guns like Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.
Today’s songs are like oneday cricket match. It gets released, gains popularity, but soon people forget it. Why? Because people remember lyrics. If you hear the song Yaad Aa Raha Hai, you will instantly connect with that era
BAPPI LAHIRI, SINGER