‘We wanted to make a quirky track’: Tanishk Bagchi on recreating 'Aankh Marey' song in 'Simmba'

When we spoke to Tanishk Bagchi last Thursday, it had only been a couple of hours since his recreated version of Aankh Marey from Simmba had released. Calls and messages from friends and colleagues, who had loved his interpretation of the hit number from Tere Mere Sapne (1996), were pouring in. But the music composer seemed most excited about his parents’ reaction. “It was a surprise for mom and dad as I had not made them hear the track. They have completely flipped over it!” he laughed.

QUIRK FACTOR

Tanishk was initially asked to compose only one track for the Ranveer Singh-Sara Ali Khan starrer but little did he know they would rope him in for three more. “I’m a big fan of Kumar Sanu and I wanted to revisit one of his numbers. We used some of his lines also in the song,” he recalled. What made this song more special, however, are the quirky bits he added to it. There’s the line ‘Oh God, one more remix!’ uttered by Karan Johar at the start of the song, which is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the number of tracks that have been remixed or recreated in recent times. The other funny idea he had was to get the Golmaal team to be a part of the song. “The ‘hee ho ha’ in the song connects perfectly with the ‘ee o aa’ that Tusshar’s character keeps saying in Golmaal,” he recounted. 

TO RECREATE OR NOT

Whether people have liked them or not, his recreations like The Humma Song from OK Jaanu (2017), Tamma Tamma Again from Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017) and Dilbar from Satyameva Jayate (2018), have been hard to ignore. Is he proud of the ‘recreation king’ title? “I take it as a compliment because it’s only when you achieve something that you’re regarded as a king,” he said. But the 38-year-old musician believes that when the time is right, you get what you deserve in life. “God has given me this opportunity. Maybe this is my time,” he said.

However, there have been brickbats along with bouquets for him and Tanishk has no qualms about being pulled down either. “When you pull something down, it comes back with full force. And that’s how it’s with me,” he philosophised. For him, every song is treated with equal honesty and dedication, whether it’s an original or a recreation. “Till a couple of years ago, only English, Latin or Spanish songs were played in clubs. These days, they play The Humma Song, Tamma Tamma Again and Dilbar. My aim is to reconnect the youth with music that’s lost to them,” said the musician who also has Zero and Kesari to look forward to next year.