Gulaabi Aankhein was bad and I hold myself responsible for that: Amaal Mallik
Music composer Amaal Mallik, who took to Facebook last month to criticise the growing trend of song remakes in the film industry, is now gearing up to release the remake of another Bollywood classic, Ghar Se Nikalte Hi (from the 1996 film, Papa Kehte Hain). This song will be sung by Amaal’s younger brother, Armaan Malik, and the single will be released independently. So, what exactly was he criticising, then? Clarifying his stance, Amaal says that he is only against the “overkill” of the remake trend.
“The meaning of the word ‘remake’ has changed so much over the years that from being a channel through which the younger generation heard classic melodies, it has now become a formula, a business model,” says Amaal. “No one, including the audience, can really complain. If they begin to diss and boycott a remake, within months, the industry will see the red signal and significantly stop this trend from becoming a factory.”
The composer feels that his recreation of the song Gulaabi Aankhein (originally from The Train, 1970 ) in the film Noor (2017) was a “bad remake”, and he feels that composers end up ruining classics because they want to follow the trend. “The remake of Gulaabi Aankhein went into a bad spin and I’ll only hold myself responsible for it. I shouldn’t have done it. Period,” he says. “My appeal to the composers, whoever touches an old classic, will only be this much: take it up only if you can express it your way, too; work hard with the writers; make them see your new vision; change the lyrics, yet, keep the soul of the original song intact.”
COMPOSER AMAAL MALLIK HAS AN APPEAL: REMAKE A CLASSIC SONG ONLY IF YOU HAVE A NEW VISION AND CAN KEEP THE SOUL INTACT