Remixing, remaking, and ripping off is nothing new to Bollywood. Sufficient has been mentioned about it — to no avail. However after listening to Arijit Singh’s model of Ali Sethi’s ‘Pasoori’, I strongly really feel that the Bollywood singer and others like him ought to cease taking regional, particularly Punjabi songs and ‘making it their own’.
Initially a Coke Studio Pakistan manufacturing, ‘Pasoori’ shot Ali Sethi and co-singer Shae Gill to international fame. It even earned Sethi an area in The New Yorker and a stage on the Coachella music competition in April 2023. The music additionally challenged the stereotype that Punjabi music is both vulgar or violent.
I’m not positive if Arijit Singh’s ‘Pasoori Nu’ would hit any such milestone.
The outrage towards ‘Pasoori Nu’ — made for Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani’s upcoming film Satyaprem Ki Katha — is restricted to how shoddy his work seems to be in entrance of Sethi’s, how the lyrics have been distorted, and the beats simply don’t really feel proper. However the bigger situation is how remaking these songs is a lose-lose state of affairs for each Singh and the regional music trade.
Singh’s declare to fame
Let’s speak about Singh first. He had a fairly humble begin to his profession — on a actuality singing present referred to as Fame Gurukul in 2005. His declare to fame was Aashiqui 2’s blockbuster romantic songs — ‘Tum Hi Ho’, ‘Chahun Main Ya Naa’ — that outlined him as a melancholic crooner. ‘Kabira’ from the 2013 film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, ‘Gerua’ from the 2015 movie Dilwale, and the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) title monitor additional cemented that picture.
That Singh is extraordinarily proficient and globally famend — he’s the fourth-most adopted artist on Spotify after Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish — is extensively identified. Then why remake songs?
This isn’t the primary time Singh has been accused of utilizing Punjabi music in his songs. He was accused of plagiarising his tremendous music ‘Kesariya’ from Charkha by Lakhwinder and Pooran Wadali. In 2016, he sang the Hindi model of the Punjabi music ‘Soch’ for the Akshay Kumar film Airlift. The unique singer, Hardy Sandhu, was “upset” that Singh took his alternative to sing for a Bollywood film.
Disservice to smaller singers
Now, let’s come to why Singh’s remakes of Punjabi songs aren’t good for the regional music trade.
The Punjabi music (and movie) trade has been accused of glorifying gun violence and making meaningless songs. They’ve been panned for the cringe that they serve within the title of music. However when somebody, be it Sethi or Sandhu, challenges the established order Bollywood singers like Singh take over. Whereas they introduce it to a wider viewers, in addition they get all the approval for ‘popularising’ the unique music. The unique singer will get acknowledged within the obscured YouTube description field.
This limits the expansion of regional singers. If Bollywood desires to benefit from fashionable Punjabi songs, why not ask the unique singers to sing for his or her label or film? If they need ‘star power’, why not embody the unique singer ultimately?
These easy methods may help give credit score the place it’s due and deter large Bollywood singers from consuming into the regional singers’ share of fame.
It’s solely as a result of Ali Sethi and ‘Pasoori’ are so large that Arijit Singh seems to be small for attempting to personal it. As an alternative of forcefully taking up the limelight from Punjabi music, why don’t you make your personal songs, Arijit?
This text was initially revealed in The Print on June 28 and has been reproduced with permission.
Ali Sethi, ‘Pasoori’ are so large that Arijit Singh seems to be small for attempting to personal it – Remark
