Pasoori controversy | Pasoori Nu is just a song, it does not deserve so much hatred: Composer Rochak Kohli

(Clockwise from left) Composer Rochak Kohli, who remade 'Pasoori' for a Hindi film; original version of 'Pasoori' composed and sung by Pakistani artistes Ali Sethi and Shae Gill; Arijit Singh, who sung the Indian remake of the song; the picturisation of the remake of 'Pasoori' in the film 'Satyaprem ki Katha' (2023).

Whipping up a storm over the last fortnight is the song Pasoori Nu — from the Kiara Advani-Kartik Aaryan starrer Satyaprem Ki Katha — sung by Arijit Singh and a remake of the Pakistani original popular Coke Studio Season 14 song from last year sung by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill.

The original Pasoori has garnered immense love last year and netizens did not take kindly to the new version. Within hours of the remade song being released, the internet was flooded with hate comments and meme fests. Both the original and the remade versions united the two nations, with love and hate, respectively. This episode has furthered the talk about creative bankruptcy in Bollywood and Hindi film music over the last decade.

However, the recreated version is an authorised one and was made only after getting the rights from Ali Sethi. Pasoori Nu was composed by Rochak Kohli along with Sethi, it was re-written by Gurpreet Saini and Sethi and sung by Arijit Singh and Tulsi Kumar. Kohli spoke to Moneycontrol about getting the song rights and more. Edited excerpts:

Why recreate Pasoori? What did you have in mind while making Pasoori Nu?

The producers decided that they wanted this song because Pasoori was everyone’s favourite at that time. They approached the makers and went out and acquired the rights of the song. Ali Sethi had the rights. It took around six to eight months just to obtain the rights of the song because that’s how international contracts happen. Then, I was given the task to recreate it because Ali and I were friends from before. So, when I was approaching the music, I was not approaching it with competition. There was no competition at all that I had to make a better version. I just wanted to make my own version of the song.

You have known Ali Sethi for a while, how did the recreation come along?

I have known Ali for years, and I have been a fan of his work for a very long time. I have been following his work and likewise he has also appreciated my work here. We had a long desire to work with each other and this was the turning point. We started interacting for this song. He didn’t have much to say in the recreation process. As a colleague, I shared with him what I had created, and I received his reactions and that’s how we went ahead.

There have been other versions of this song globally? The Hindi version has been criticised.

There was a Spanish version, a Turkish version, a retrospect version. There were already many global versions happening across the world. We wanted to make the Hindi version of this song, in a Bollywood film that went with the storyline and the setting of the film. So, we knew that we could not be alienated from the film, the actors, and the film's storyline and the music, so, the lyrics had to be designed accordingly.

Shae Gill had reportedly commented that she wasn’t even aware of the song being recreated for a Hindi film?

Shae has sung the original beautifully, but she is the performer on the track and when paperwork happens it only happens between the rights holder and the company which is obtaining them. There are many other musicians also that have worked on the original song but while obtaining rights over an artistic piece of work, only the controller who has the rights will be contacted and they get looped in.

You have recreated many songs, including Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga and Dekhte dekhte. How was this different?

Recreations usually unn gaanon ke hotein hain jo classics hain like RD Burman’s Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga. It was a song which this generation hadn’t probably heard and that is why there was a charm in recreating it and we had a new composition for it. I recreated Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab’s Dekhte dekhte; I feel recreations tab bahut acche hotein hain jab aap kisi aise gaane ko letein hai jiski amazing melody hai aur usko aap wapas iss duniya mein leke aatein hain. Ideally, there should be a gap of few years when a song is recreated, because then it is well appreciated by the audiences. Also, it all depends on how you recreate the work — are you just making a remix? Because there is a big difference between a remix and a recreation. In a remix, you just add software and beats, etc. and it's done, but for a recreation you need a new composition, you need new lyrics. It is an intellectual property being created and it is an extremely tough job. There is a very high possibility that you might not turn it for the audiences so, you have to be very careful when recreating. The whole world has recreations like this. In fact for English songs we sometimes don’t even know that the song we are listening to is an original or a recreation.

What is the most important thing to keep in mind when recreating a song, especially with Pasoori?

I always put in my heart and soul into a recreation just like I do for my original songs. If it is a '90s song, then I have to keep that in mind and bring in the '90s feel to it, because I cannot disrupt the soul of the song. Pasoori is a special case, however, because it is a recent song, only one-year-old. And probably the idea of recreating it itself was huge and, so, even before we recreated, it we knew that there might be negative comments and that it will not be taken very well or accepted easily. But we also knew that eventually it will be okay. And Spotify numbers show that. People are listening to it on YouTube, too, and the numbers show that they are loving it. In three days, we had 19 million views on YouTube! Normally only an original song or new song with big actors gets this. We are all commercial musicians, and we make music for situations and for ourselves. I make music for my own channel R Music and put out what I like. I work in situations given by producers, and everybody comes along with a brief. I think audiences need to be a little receptive and not just go with anything that is going on, rather, they need to listen to the whole song before they judge it because at the end of the day it is just a song, and it does not deserve so much hatred.