Music director Rochak Kohli has been handed the onerous task of recreating RD Burman's posthumous hit and one of his most iconic songs, 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga', from 1942: A Love Story (1994).
Kohli, who has composed original songs like 'Tera Yaar Hoon Main' from Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018) and 'Nain Na Joden' from Badhaai Ho (2018), is not new to recreating old songs. He recently did a version of the song 'Dil Mein Ho Tum' from Satyamev Jayate (1987) for the Emraan Hashmi-starrer, Cheat India.
Let's get one thing out of the way. There is no way anyone could match RD Burman's lilting tune, Javed Akhtar's poetic lyrics or Vidhu Vinod Chopra's beautiful visuals of the Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala romance.
As this Shelly Chopra Dhar film is set in Punjab, Kohli composes the Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga title song with a Punjabi folk flavour. He makes subtle alterations in the mukhda and replaces the sitar with a guitar for the interlude.
But as blasphemous as it sounds, this 2.0 version doesn't sound bad at all. The Punjabi twist and smooth variations make the 1990s melody quite contemporary.
The magic is majorly lost when it comes to Gurpreet Saini's lyrics though. They just don't seem to fit into the metre as perfectly.
The memorable signature opening tune, recurring through the song, gets lyrics this time around, and the words are simplistic: 'Ankhiyan de kor, reh jaane de, kehna hai jo keh jaane de.'
Most importantly, the seven lines starting with 'jaise' that led us into 'Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga' each time go missing and are replaced by rather simple and straightforward lines like 'Pehle toh kabhi yun mujhe na aisa kuch hua, deewani lehron ko jaise sahil mila.'
The beautiful and poetic old lyrics written by Javed Akhtar turn rather simplistic.
The video follows the relationship between Sonam K Ahuja and Rajkummar Rao's characters, and we get to see snapshots of their bond in the film. We know that this title track represents Rajkummar Rao's feelings for Sonam Kapoor and her feelings for the mystery girl in her life, said to be played by Regina Cassandra.
Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla's flirtatious moments also feature in the mix.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga will be released in theatres on 1 February.
Watch the title song here and let us know if you are keen to watch this film: