Kiara Advani & Aditya Seal’s ‘Homage’ To Urmila,Shammi Kapoor & Sharmila Tagore Is Libellous

I’ve nothing against retro songs,  as  long as they remember whom they are paying  a homage to. In the track Disco deewane  in Karan Johar’s  Student Of The Year, the  ethos  and the aura of  the  original  ‘disco-very channel’  were sourced and processed  to project a quaint if  not exactly  classic retro-nostalgia  number.

 The  new song ‘Dil Tere Deewana’  from Indoo(with two  ‘o’s)  Ki Jawani  left me  scratching  my head  wondering what the  composer and the choreographer were  thinking.The opening of the song  is from ShaktiSamanta’s 1964 film  Kashmir Ki Kali. It is obvious that neither  Advani nor Seal has  seen  Shammi  Kapoor’s original movements and Sharmila Tagore’s coy  and captivating  responses to them.Hence  it’s a free-for-all on screen ,  a mishmash and mayhem  that  have no  relations whatsoever  to  the  original. The song then  moves  to a ‘homage’ to Urmila Matondkar  in Rangeela.

I’ve news  for  Ms Advani. Just by wearing a  short dress and  balancing on  a hand cart you  don’t become  UrmilaMatondkar. There is  a lot more to oomph than skin. Likewise  there is  plenty more to nostalgia than putting  the  two protagonists  in  Kashmiri clothes and  flailing their limbs.

This is  a sad thing to say. But I’m afraid the  actors and technicians today  are losing grip over the past. The  young superstars know nothing  about  Ashok Kumar  and Leela Chitnis.They’ve barely heard  of Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal and their favourite  classics are  no longer Mughal-e-Azam or Pakeezah. Not even  Sholay  or  Dilwale  Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. It’s the Marvel universe that they  love the most.  Desi be damned.