Irked by the fact that his songs are often toyed with, original Bhool bhulaiyaa lyricist Sameer says change must be effected
Sameer Anjaan penned the original song; Pritam (left) worked on both versions. Pic/Ashish Raje
The voices of dissent against the trend of rehashing old ditties in Bollywood seem to grow louder, with Sameer Anjaan joining musicians like AR Rahman and Vishal-Shekhar in criticising those toying with their work. Anjaan, who penned the lyrics of the much-acclaimed title track of Bhool Bhulaiya (2007), must now share credits with Mandy Gill, who has worked on the upcoming second edition. What’s unusual is that Anjaan was kept in the dark about the making of the new track, starring Kartik Aaryan.
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“I didn’t work on this version, and I am very upset. If the [original] writer is still working [in the industry], why are they appointing another writer and attaching [their name] with the song? They will simply add some lines without changing [too much]. Why should another artiste be [credited]? The worst part is that the person who has written only one to two lines more in the new version will get 50 per cent of the royalty. That’s unjustified,” says the writer, who collaborated with Pritam on the original track. While the credit for the recreated version of Bhool bhulaiya 2 has been given to Tanishk Bagchi, Pritam has been attributed for composing select sections.
Anjaan, who heard the recreated version only when it was released, points out that label owners exploit loopholes in the copyright agreement to benefit from the artistes’ talent. “They had to give me the credit because if they did not, I could sue them. Initially, they did not do that, but started the practice after we objected. This whole thing needs to stop. Most of my songs, like Akhiyon se goli mare, and Dilbar dilbar, have been recreated. [Several artistes in the industry] now plan to take some action.”
Asserting that a new lyricist cannot decipher the structure that the original lyricist followed when working on the song, Anjaan fails to comprehend the reason behind the makers’ decision to appoint someone else when he is still active in the industry. “If I am here, why aren’t you asking me to write these extra lines? If you change the lyrics, the concept is lost. They [new lyricists] don’t understand the song in totality. The original was a massive hit.”
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