Present day songs lack soul: Kumar Sanu

Kolkata: Reminding all the 10 songs in the musical hit Aashiqui became chart toppers in the 80s, popular singer Kumar Sanu laments the glorious melody tradition of Indian film music has now been reduced to soul-less dance numbers.

"When I hear tracks like Lungi dance I wonder if such numbers have any purpose other than making people raise their ‘lungi’ and sway to the beat. When you hear your two-year old daughter chanting the lungi dance number at home, can you imagine what will happen after 10 years! "Will you be able to keep your child in the safe environs of home. Are we not indirectly aiding to the polluting of environment by introducing our kids to such numbers?" a livid Sanu said. Referring to the therapeutic value of melody, which can cure mental illness and fatigue as therapy, Sanu informed his ‘Kuch Na Kaho’ number from the ‘1942 A Love Story’ has been recommended for treating cerebral palsy in Switzerland as the voice frequency soothes abnormality in cells. "All the ten songs in ‘Aashiqui’ had become hits in my time. Place that with the present situation when songs are re-adapted and not invented. Are we composing music only for playing them loud at bars and pubs. Are we forgetting the ‘shukun’ of music," Sanu, whose voice reigned over the sub-continent in the 90s, said. Sanu also slammed media for "Feeding people only with one kind of music." "If you keep playing the same Lungi track 200 times throughout the day, chances are the listener will start humming the same number by the evening. I am not blaming media for catering to public taste but they have a role in moulding the taste. But I am happy such fm channels have slots for melodious tracks" he said. Sanu, who recalled how singing legend and his father’s friend Manna Dey had implored him over phone a year before his death, "Not to desert ‘sur’ which manifests in every sphere of life", pointed out how copycat singers have grown manifold with the invasion of technology in music recording. Coming to Aashiqui Two, he said while as per the prerogative of the age melody is less in the sequel in comparison with the original, Jeet Ganguly and Arijit Singh had done excellent job and the tracks are popular as well.