Vishal Dadlani is furious. On Wednesday, the Hindi film music composer tweeted that he would sue anybody remixing any more Vishal-Shekhar songs after Saaki. Composed along with Dadlani’s musical collaborator Shekhar Ravjiani for the movie Musafir (2004), Saaki was recreated by Tanishk Bagchi for Batla House this year.

“This is not about one song, one person, one company or one remix,” Dadlani told Scroll.in. “This is about a screwed-up system that allows the exploitation of what should be a composer’s legacy without any regard for the original composers themselves.”

The rights of film songs rest with music companies, which makes it difficult for composers or lyricists to establish their ownership over tunes or prevent them from being remixed in any way. However, pointed out Dadlani, “Each agreement for a music composition is made for a specific film, with a specific production house, cast and title. I don’t think songs from one film are randomly transferable to another, but we will only find out when I go to court the next time a Vishal-Shekhar song is remixed.”

When a song is retooled, the original composers rarely get royalties despite the existence of the Indian Performing Rights Society, which is supposed to ensure that music makers and publishers are not deprived of their royalties. “Yes, original composers should receive royalties through IPRS,” Dadlani said. “However, because at this point the major remix-waale labels have not joined IPRS, the original composers are probably not receiving their just royalties.”

Ironically enough, Vishal-Shekhar had popularised the contemporary Bollywood recreation in films such as Jhankaar Beats (2001), which featured a reworking of Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna (Kudrat, 1981). The composers were also responsible for the title track of Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), a retooling of the song from Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), and Student of the Year (2012), which reintroduced Nazia Hassan to a new generation through The Disco Song.

Source: Scroll.In

Complete Interview: https://scroll.in/reel/942208/vishal-dadlani-interview-remixes-are-scavenging-of-the-worst-kind