Old melodies make a comeback in Bollywood

There is something about old songs that Bollywood filmmakers keep revisiting the golden era of 1970s and 80s in an attempt to cash-in on the nostalgia.
The filmmakers often buy the original song and remix it with extra beats to score a success on the music charts and the trend is catching on fast.
Latest to join the bandwagon is Dharmendra''s film ''Yamla Pagla Deewana''. The actor, who turned 75 recently, will be seen dancing with his sons Sunny and Bobby Deol on the number, which was picturised on him in 1975 hit ''Pratigya''.
Apart from ''Yamla Paglaa Deewana'', Ranvir Kapoor starrer ''Bachna Ae Haseeno'', Shahrukh''s ''Don'', Akshay Kumar''s ''Housefull'' and Ajay Devgan''s latest release ''Golmaal 3'' relied on old Bollywood numbers to brighten the prospect of their movies.
The legendary music director Pyarelal, who along with Laxmikant formed a formidable music pair of yesteryears, attributes it to the lack of quality in the present music.
"The quality of Hindi film music has seen a downfall and the timeless melodies era of music directors like Shankar -Jaikishan, Madan-Mohan, Khayyam, O P Nayyar, S D Burman will never be recreated," says the veteran musician who has composed music for over 500 films and won seven Filmfare awards.
"Nowadays the emotional bonding of the song with the listener is temporary as music directors give more attention to rhythm and beat and lose control over its melody due to the lack of knowledge," says the director. After almost nine years, Pyarelal did a composition for Farah Khan''s ''Om Shanti Om''.
Film critic Taran Adarsh feels that old songs are still fresh in public memory and including them in a film ensures quick publicity.
"The recall value of old Hindi songs based on ragas are so tremendous that even after 30-35 years, people are listening to the tunes with same interest. Filmmakers are trying to generate same hysteria to boost their box-office sales," says Adarsh.
"Through remixing or adopting the original songs, producers like Sajid Khan in ''Housefull'', Ram Gopal Varma in ''Sholay'' and Farhan Akhtar in ''Don'' successfully used the success mantra to create some kind of viewer''s interest before release of the film," Adarsh adds.
While some songs were picturised on the original actors like Dharmendra in ''Yamla Pagla Deewana'' and Mithun Chakravarti in ''Golmaal'' 3, others see present superstars dancing on the popular tunes.
"Old hit songs carry a nostalgic value with them and if same star performs on that song in a new movie like Mithun Chakravati did in ''Golmaal 3'' and Dharmendra in ''Yamla...'', people enjoy watching it while it''s a new experience for youngsters," says Komal Nahata, a film market analyst.
''Housefull'' found box-office success with a remix of a popular hit song from a 1981 Amitabh Bachchan movie, ''Laawaris''. The songs ''I am a Disco Dancer'' and ''Yaad aa raha hai'' from Mithun''s blockbuster film ''Disco Dancer'' had been woven into the narrative of the film ''Golmaal 3''