Mumbai:
Bollywood playback singer Divya Kumar says the trend of re-creating iconic songs from the 90s is not a healthy one as the tracks have emotional value attached which cannot be modernised.
Divya, who sang the chart-buster ‘Jee Karda’ number from “Badlapur” last year, feels adding a rap portion to the re-created song takes away the purity which the original track has.
“For me, the 90s is a very emotional era. The essence of 90s music cannot be brought back...It was very pure, you can’t add rap to it and make it modern. ‘Aashiqui 2’s soundtrack was successful because they didn’t recreate any of the hit tracks of the previous films.
“They created new melodies which were in the similar zone. I am completely against the recreation of 90’s songs. I think those should not be touched,” Divya told PTI.
The singer has lent his voice to hit songs like ‘Maston Ka Jhund’ from “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” and ‘Sunn Saathiya’ from “ABCD 2”. It was however, ‘Jee Karda’ which brought him to instant fame.
Divya feels a Bollywood song has to be a hit if it wants to reach out to maximum people even though the independent music scene in the country is slowly flourishing.
“’Jee Karda’ was a super hit song because it reached out to many people. Even Varun Dhawan pushed it and promoted me too. The independent music scene is slowly emerging again, but as long as we depend on Bollywood music, we need hit songs to reach as many people through music.”
Divya has sung the song ‘Binu Baadar’ in the Priyanka Chopra-starrer “Jai Gangaajal”, which hit screens today. The singer says he had a great time recording the track for music composer Salim-Suleiman, with whom he worked for the first time.
“I had a great time recording the song with Salim-Sulaiman. The song comes at a point in the film where Priyanka is bashing goons... I had to pronounce ‘Binu Baadar’ in a certain UP style, and the lyricist also helped me with it. Even Prakash Jha (director) was there. The song has come out really nicely,” he said.
Back home, Priyanka was applauded for her performance in “Bajirao Mastani” though the role was not big. She will be next seen on the big screen this Friday in Prakash Jha’s “Jai Gangaajal”.
Priyanka believes it is a good time to be an actor as entertainment is going global rather than being restricted to one country.
“’Quantico’ screened in 120 territories and was dubbed in 40 languages while ‘Bajirao’ released in China. It is a really good time for actors to find their place in the global entertainment world.
“Actors like Irrfan and Anil Kapoor have already done that. The kind of roles they played, paved the way for people like me to be able to come and do a show or film on their own.”
The former Miss World did not have any formal training in acting but credits her long career in Hindi cinema for shaping her into a skilled performer.
“The confidence that I have, I have it from Hindi films. I know my work really well as Hindi films have been a great training ground for me. I am not scared to face the camera. I know what I have to do when I am in front of it. That gives me an edge no matter where I am.”
