Tanishk Bagchi's Masakali 2.0 to Badshah's 'sampled' Genda Phool: Should musicians be more responsible?

The Bollywood music industry is known for its foot-tapping, upbeat music on one hand and soul-stirring music on the other. From some iconic hit numbers that have popularised the industry today to evergreen classics, Hindi music has seen a massive change in the way it is consumed today. So, when I actually saw Sidharth Malhotra and Tara Sutaria's Masakali 2.0 not receiving the kind of adulation and love the makers would have expected, it came as a surprise but with a sigh of relief. My faith in the audiences was restored as I was on the same page with thousands of others -- some songs need to remain untouched. 

For the unversed, AR Rahman's famed song Masakali from Delhi 6 was remade and released last week. However, the Internet exploded with netizens calling out and expressing some serious disappointment over the song's remake. If you think it was limited to only the general public, you're sorely mistaken. Original music composer AR Rahman took a massive dig and urged his fans to instead listen to the original. Lyricist Prasoon Joshi, too, was up in arms and called out the makers for 'insensitively' using the original creation. Imagine pissing off AR Rahman, netizens opined. 

Speaking of another song that has managed to make headlines since its release is Badshah's Genda Phool. With over 169 million views as of now, the song has won many over. But it has also produced a whole army of netizens who slammed the rapper for using Bengali lyrics of a 1974 Bengal folk song without giving credit to the original artist. Badshah denied the allegations and stated that he only 'sampled' the Bengali part and could not find the lyricist's name anywhere in the records. It was only after considerable backlash that Badshah credited Bengali folk artiste Ratan Kahar as the composer of the lyrics 'Boro Loker Beti Lo'.

In recent times, the reaction to these two tracks have made noise for all the wrong reasons leaving us with a question. Do musicians and artists need to be more responsible? 

Well, not just responsible, but creative. Bollywood has only been witnessing remake of old hit songs with spunky beats and over-the-top videos. In these times of remakes, originality matters so give where credit is due. Don't wait for the audiences to point it out. Given the kind of resources in everyone's reach, it doesn't too long to call a spade, a spade. And above all, give us some fresh music. We have probably made peace with the fact that remakes are not going anywhere but how about some fresh new songs? 

Do you think Bollywood needs a fresh dose of music? Let us know in the comments below.