The practice of remixing or remaking old songs is slowly seeping into Marathi cinema as well. Earlier this year, Ye Re Ye Re Paisa 2 (2019) remixed the old, fun number ‘Ashwini, Ye Na’ from Gammat Jammat (1987). Now director Vishal Devrukhkar’s Girlz (2019) remixes the famous lavani ‘Chhabidar Chhabi’ from V Shantaram’s Pinjra (1972).
The song has been picturized on the three main leads, Ankita Lande, Ketaki Narayan and Anvita Phaltankar, with actor Parth Bhalerao. The Girlz team has only taken the title of the song ‘Chhabidar Chhabi’ written by Jagdish Khebudkar and created new lyrics to suit today’s social media-friendly youngsters. Hence, lyricist Jai Atre has generously used words like ‘likes’, ‘shares’, ‘trending’ and ‘DP'. The fusion works well here.
The original song from Shantaram's film was sung by Usha Mangeshkar and composed by Ram Kadam.
The chemistry between Lande, Narayan and Phaltankar appears natural through the dance steps. Singers Mugdha Karhade and Adarsh Shinde have matched the energy levels of the actors. But Shinde’s voice appears older for Bhalerao.
Composer duo Praful-Swapnil have recreated the music of the old song in a natural way.
All in all, this remix does work. Whether the trend will continue in the months to come remains to be seen.
Girlz is due to be released on 29 November 2019. Watch the new song and its inspiration from Pinjra (1972) and let us know if you would be keen to watch Girlz (2019).