Yo, Mr DJ! Once more, encore!

Bollywood music is full of new trends; some new and some that have been here for decades. One such trend is having different versions of the same song in the movie. There can be a male version or female version like in the movie Junglee (1961), where "Ehsaan Tera Hoga" had one version sung by Mohd. Rafi and the other by Lata Mangeshkar. Same is the case for "Khilte Hain Gul Yahaan" from Sharmilee (1971) which had Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar singing two different versions. These versions tend to have same lyrics but different singers. Another form of this trend is happy and sad version of the same song; "Arre Re Arre" from Dil Toh Pagal Hai (1997) is the apt example here with both versions sung by Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan but having different lyrics and tempo of the music. But one fact remained unchanged till then and that is all versions of the song were used in the movie.

And then came the late 2000s and the trend changed. A music composer would have one song with varying versions but only one version would be used in the movie. What about rest of the versions? They will be added to the movie's music album and will become a part of your music library if the album is one of the successful ones. Today, BollyCurry is going to highlight few such songs that are popular enough to be a part in your music collections, all versions included.

 

 

When we first heard of "Tu Jaane Na", it was with the vocals of Atif Aslam. Composed by Pritam and penned by Irshad Kamil, it graced our television screens and won our hearts with the heartfelt vocals of Aslam. But it was only when we checked out the album that we came to know that there exists two other variants too; one by Soham Chakraborty and other by Kailash Kher. The one by Chakraborty was mellow and not that attention grabbing once you have heard Aslam sing the same song. But the one that Kher sang stole our hearts again. It was not just his voice but also the slow tempo of the song which endeared the song to us. "Tu Jaane Na" was truly a trendsetter by making us love all its versions.

 

After "Tu Jaane Na" the trend continued with many songs but no song stood out till 2014 came and brought "Galliyan" to our attention. The first version that released with the promos was sung and composed by Ankit Tiwari with Manoj Muntashir as its lyricist. The song became popular right away and still exists in our playlists. And just when we thought that "Galliyan" was the best song in the album, Shraddha Kapoor came along singing the same song with Tiwari. Her low pitch coupled with his husky voice was a treat to listen and jump started the trend of unplugged version which continues to the current year!

 

"Galliyan" unleashed the idea of an actress turned singer on us and on its heels came "Samjhawan". Already the original version, composed by Jawad Ahmed and Sharib-Toshi and penned by Ahmed Anees and Kumar, had made rounds and won approval from the listeners when Alia Bhatt sang the song in her soft and velvety voice. While Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh sang the original song in their usual pitch, Bhatt's lower vocal range and the minimal use of instruments gave this song a very contemporary feel and reinforced the idea of unplugged versions.

 

The same year as "Galliyan" and "Samjhawan" got released, another song joined the unplugged song bandwagon and that was "Meherbaan", penned by Anvita Dutt and Kumar and composed by Vishal-Shekhar. While the original was sung by Ash King, Shilpa Rao and Shekhar Ravjiani, the unplugged version was sung by only Ravjiani with just the guitar as music in the background. Both songs are beautiful in their own right and prove once again that the trend of unplugged version is here to stay!

 

While the above four songs were examples of same song sung differently and by different people, "Bheegh Loon" is an apt example of songs that have male and female version. Composed by Ankit Tiwari and written by Abhendra Kumar, the female version is sung by Prakriti Kakkar and male version by Ankit Tiwari. The lyrics are similar with only a slight change while the music remains same. Only the singers and their singing styles are different and while the female version was used in the movie the male one was left for us to discover when we heard the album.

 

These were just a few examples of how the new trend of having various versions of the same song in the album but only one being used in the movie caught up and continues even to this day. Due to obvious reasons we have not listed all the songs with more than one version and only focused on few popular ones. But that does not stop you from creating your own list. If you know other songs that you believe should have listed above, then comment below and let us know! We are waiting to hear from you!

 

Writer: Kalpana K.C.

Editor(s): Peehu A. & Hershi J.

Graphics: Shikha A.