Where Junoon/Ali Azmat and Strings take the cake, along with Fuzon of course is their India excursion. We have to respect these bands for going on their own terms and popularizing their music there. It is the only way to go across the border. Selling your composition to an Indian director to do with as he pleases is not the best way to get fame and popularity. Singers should have learnt that from Najam’s ‘Mainoo Tere Naal’, which was turned into ‘Bheege Honth’ for Murder. Anu Malik and singer Kunal Gunjawala walked away with the credit and the awards. Najam was compensated with some clips from Murder, which he added to his original song to boost its sales here. And then, Atif went and sold his song ‘Bheeghi Yaadein’ (disputed actually, between him and Goher Mumtaz) to the wily Mahesh Bhatt who put it in his film Zeher after rearranging this rock gem to a pop meets techno piece of trash ditty with monotone drums and Sonu Nigam style vocals, provided by Atif himself. However, he is not seen nor given credit in the promos of the film. Indian reviewers say “The tune has been recreated by Mithun and Naresh Sharma,” which sounds like such bull.
You do covers of songs or remix them; recreating a composition sounds as hokey as reincarnation. However Atif’s newly ‘recreated’ song is hugely popular all across India with FM stations playing it every 45 minutes and the disco crowd shouting out their approval when the first strains start in the trendy bopping joints of Mumbai. We only hope that Atif gets his due and that this serves as a lesson to him and to Goher Mumtaz. Instead of castigating each other, perhaps it would be better to join forces to tackle the bigger fish across the border who will swallow your talent and own it if you give them an inch.
http://www.jang-group.com/thenews/apr20 … instep.htm
I SO agree with the writer. I don’t have any problems with pak singers going to india to do concerts, sing for movies etc etc. If the public there is showing love for our singers, why shouldn’t they entertain them. But, what exactly was the point of atif aslam and najam shiraz selling their souls to the indians. People like anu malik are walking away with all the accolades while najam is struggling to tell everyone that it was his song. Atif’s song is highly popular in india right now. But I can bet you that most don’t even know it is his song. And the indians who “recreated” the song will walk away with all the awards and appreciation.
And I also don’t understand why this singers allow their songs to be altered like that. If I was a artist, that would be the ultimate sign of insult. You want my song, fine, but it’s gonna be the way that I did it. If it’s not good enough my way, it’s not good enough for your movie. Plus I don’t think paki artists songs translate well into a cinema theater. There is a certain edge to paki pop, with our heavy guitar riffs and bang em hard drum beats. It would look silly in a movie. I don’t even know why they asked atif for his song. It’s clearly not a movie song. And like a elated jack-ass atif ran to india “yes mister bhatt, do whatever you want with my song. I am your slave.” :smack:
this was a great way to get immensely more popular in pakistan. alot of pakistanis had never heard of junoon until sayonee hit MTV india and Channel V. cable in pakistan i tell ya. 