I was hurt after walking out of Raabta: Pritam
Pritam Chakraborty has been part of the Bollywood music scene for over 20 years now, proving his mettle as a composer.
And, what’s the secret of his success, we ask. The 48-yearold says, “I’ve done my education in film music. I’m a film musician. [Unlike other musicians] I don’t have a bank of 1000 songs, that I play when someone approaches me to do music for their film. It’s the script that decides the kind of music that will be created. It is important to stay in the dayra of the story line of that movie.”
Pritam reunited with filmmakers Imtiaz Ali and Dinesh Vijan for the recently released film, Love Aaj Kal 2, which saw him remake a few songs from its prequel, which released in 2009. And the composer reasons, “It’s a franchise, and you have to carry, some bits of the first film forward. Dhoom has the signature song across all films. Allah Duhai hai was present in Race films. So, in franchises, it makes a lot of sense. It happens in Hollywood as well. You have the same signature tune in Mission Impossible, in Avengers or in James Bond films. Every franchise carries some sort of a tune, that is present in its instalments.”
For Pritam, remakes only make “sense” when that song “can add” to the film. “If a film wants 100 songs to be remade, I will remake all 100 of them. If there’s a biopic on Guru Dutt ji, and we’d have to recreate iconic hits from Pyaasa (1957) or Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960),” says Pritam, who has remade quite a few songs in his 20-year-long career. He adds, “I’m not against the idea of remakes. It’s not a new trend, it always existed. But, for films, remakes need to make sense! For example, I loved the song, Aankh Marey in the film Simmba (2018). I love the song. But, I don’t see a relation of that song with the film, Simmba. It would have done the same, if they had just made an independent remake version, and uploaded the four-minute video of it on YouTube. It would have still been popular. Same thing for Kala Chashma (Baar Baar Dekho, 2018),” he says.
But, while he is not averse to the idea of remakes, he is not afraid of walking out of a project, if he is “forced” into remaking a song. In fact he did it in 2017, when he left Dinesh Vijan’s directorial debut, Raabta. “I walked out of Raabta after creating four-five songs. I walked out simply because they wanted me to do the remake of Girlfriend Boyfriend. I didn’t understand the relation of a Punjabi song in a film like Raabta, and I walked out of it,” says Pritam, admitting that he was “hurt” after the incident. However, the incident didn’t colour his friendship with Dinesh. “It felt like a heart break, and I was hurt. But, Dinu has been a friend for a long time before that, and is now, too. He had his reasons of why he wanted that song, and we just didn’t agree on it. We are still very good friends,” he signs off.