However best remixes and recreations of the originals are defined, at their heart, they are copies - copies of good originals; otherwise who would enjoy Ranbir Kapoor baring his midriff and wooing 3 gorgeous ladies here? Isn't it because something - something in our mind-scape - gets triggered harking back to this original classic (note that even the youtube video begins with "classic"! :) )
Consider the case of "phir mile sur" - the prefix of phir in itself belies the seriousness or rather the lack of it! It is what I am tempted to term as a classic case of poor imitation. The intent was noble and praiseworthy - unity in diversity and an effort to boost the nationalistic fervor and spirit around republic day. The result however is not pleasant and makes one yearn for those DD days when the original (minus the phir!) video used to grace the television screen.
To compare and make my case, consider the people - Bhimsen Joshi, Balamurali Krishna, Ravi Shankar, Allah Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Narendra Hirwani, Prakash Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Mithun Chakraborty, Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Kamal Haasan, Sharmila Tagore, Tanuja and Waheeda Rehman in the original and Ahishek Bachchan, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Shaan, Sonu Nigam and Shahid kapoor in the recreation of magic.
It is fairly easy to observe that while the original had illustrious names, they were established and strong ones whereas in the phir version, it is the A-Z of Bollywood. How does a Deepika Padukone and a Shahid Kapoor - one in a ill-suited costume (it is perfectly fine for a commercial!) and the other in a rock star stereotype do justice to the video? Priyanka Chopra and Aamir Khan too look plastic. Salman Khan is atrocious in what looks like a sequence for an ad for vests! In trying to fit all these actors and their commercially popular mass gestures, the video's otherwise aesthetic locales are marred in a tasteless manner.
While every possible bent and slant is given to the original song and the tune to extend it to a frustrating length, it doesn't help either. The music intensive sections like the Ayaan Ali and Amaan Ali sequence sounds great but somehow the vocal sequences lack the punch perhaps due to too much of an effort - towards striving for perfection ironically! The video is more a poor patchwork than a picture of smooth coherence.
The conclusion is that this version doesn't work and is a big letdown on republic day - one that the public didn't ask for but again does the public have any say on what it is being thrust with through the idiot box? Sadly, NO! A request to whosoever attempts to recreate any magic - please choose wisely and don't try to please too much!
3 comments:
Would more or less agree with what you had to say.. The original "Mile Sur" was an anthem of sorts.. A CULT ! The new one is nowhere close to it..
But having said that, I feel you have been overly critical at some places.. "Salman Khan in an ad for vests" LOL.. Arre , u should be happy that he had the decency to don a vest atleast :P
"Isn't it because something in our mind-scape - gets triggered harking back to this original classic " -
Not necessarily true.. There have been cases where "recreations" have infused life into originals.. I feel that the original Vande Mataram did not evoke that many emotions as the Rahman version did..
BTW, the fact that there were no cricketers in the video was surprising.. But HOW on earth can you leave out SACHIN.. I was terribly disappointed with his absence :|
I cannot agree more than this! If the intent was to bring out national integration, they have failed miserably! Excuse me - India doesn't mean 85% Bollywood! For name sake, they have few others (more worthy ones) peeping into the video. But that is not enough!!!
Topless Shahid Kapoor, dramtic Priyanka Chopra, joker Aamir Khan, almost bottomless Deepika, ShahRukh with his 'kuch kuch hota hai' expression look absolutely misfit :( (the list in fact is long, though i put an abrupt full stop!)
@ Sriram: "I feel you have been overly critical at some places" - I was because I felt for all the hype, I wanted it to meet my expectations.
"There have been cases where "recreations" have infused life into originals.." - this is interesting, but the fact that a "recreation" was attempted in itself acknowledges the superiority of the original. As in the one-off case of vande mataram the "recreation" might be better, but again we should take into consideration the infusion of technology even there.
@Shalini: I forgot Aamir Khan and SRK. They did a pathetic job perhaps because they thought they were in a routine bollywood song! :)
"I cannot agree more than this! If the intent was to bring out national integration, they have failed miserably!" - absolutely!
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