We should make sure to only release classy stuff

Over the “last few years” singersongwriter Sonu Nigam has learned that “detachment is what the cosmos teaches you”. This epiphany has led to him getting detached from even his family. “I am responsible, but detached from them,” he says. And the 46-yearold adds that if he can stay detached from his family, it’s no “big deal” to be detached from his music as well.

As a result, Sonu is not bothered by the fact that he has been given “no credit”, for any of his songs that have been recreated. “If you think that a song got famous regardless of the singer, it’s fine. If you think giving the credit to the composer and the lyricist is enough, it is alright. I am not attached to any of my songs,” he says, adding, “Every society gets the

government they deserve, as well as the music that they deserve. Our society deserves these remixes and that’s why you are getting it.”

Sonu points out that all his original songs that “music companies” have “tried hard” to recreate haven’t been successful. “Have you realised that all my songs that they have tried to recreate have failed miserably?” he asks with a laugh as he adds, “It’s like a cosmic abhishaap (curse) on them for recreating my songs. The universe is telling them, ‘kisi ke bhi gaane recreate kar lo, iske mat karo’. And it’s a fact,” he says.

The singer who has also tried his hand at English music with singles such as Let’s Go For Glory and Underwater, recently took his international collaborations a notch higher when he released another single titled Fire in the Sky with Polish singer-actor Natalia Lesz. Sonu says that he is “blessed to have worked with several beautiful singers, composers, lyricists, actors and music companies”. “Even after so much that you have done, you meet a different artiste from another country, who has a different background and sensibilities, and you try and sync your sensibilities with that new element in your life, that’s a beautifully crazy process,” adds the singer.

But all his opinions on remakes aside, he is not against the trend completely. “That’s what is working these days. Music companies know that today people play masti songs on YouTube, after consuming alcohol. If people like that kind of music, there’s nothing wrong with it,” he says, adding, “Change is the only constant and that is what the world is meant for. We can keep reminiscing about the good old days, but everything is new at one point which then becomes old. What seems new today to you, will also become old someday. There are good and bad in every era, it is our duty, if at all we are that sincere, to make sure that we only release classy stuff.”

Sonu does, however, feel that there is another side to the recreations narrative. “Back in the ’90s, you had individuals such as Subhash Ghai and Yash Chopra, who took decisions [about the music in their movies] on their own. Today, they have been replaced by corporates, who have destroyed an individual’s ethos and creativity,” he signs off.

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