Are Hindi movie titles drawing inspiration from old songs once again?

The Hindi film title has gone through various phases through years. There was the single word title, the longer-than-usual title, the easy-to-use abbreviation and finally, the song-turned-film title. The 1980s saw the rise of the abbreviations which continued its way to the millennium from the 1988 Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT) to 2006's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK). With the 1990s, songs as film titles saw as resurgence with popular films like Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993), Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat (1996), Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega (2000) and the blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1996).

The past few years have heralded the return of the one-word title with hits like Queen (2014), Kick (2014), Baby (2015), Piku (2015) and more. But 2016 may spark a renewed interest in titles inspired by well-known songs. Teraa Surroor, starrring Himesh Reshammiya and lifted from one of his biggest hits 'Tera suroor' in 2007, already released this March. Up next this June is Deepak Tijori's Do Lafzon Ki Kahani, starring Randeep Hooda and Kajal Aggarwal, based on the song from the 1979 Amitabh Bachchan-starrer The Great Gambler.

Later this year, Baar Baar Dekho with Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra and the multi-starrer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil are due for release. The first, a love story in which the lead couple ages from 28 to 60, is influenced by the Shammi Kapoor hit 'Baar baar dekho' from China Town (1962), while Karan Johar's next goes back to the 1950s with the classic ode to the city of Mumbai from CID (1956) popularized by Johnny Walker.

The recently-announced Mera Pyaari Bindu with Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana borrows its name from the lively number sung by Kishore Kumar in Padosan (1968). However, this does not mean that all films are leaning to use songs as their titles. The rest of the big name lineups for 2016 show Sultan, Rustom, Mirzya, Shivaay and Dangal continuing to go with the one-word title trend. Time will only tell if this trend is here to stay, and a lot depends on the success of these movies.