Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya has reacted strongly to the recreated version of the iconic track ‘Chunnari Chunnari’, which has been included in the album of the upcoming romantic comedy Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. Originally featured in David Dhawan’s 1999 entertainer Biwi No. 1, the song starred Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen and went on to become one of the most popular dance tracks of its time.
The recreated version now features Varun Dhawan alongside Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde. Interestingly, both films have been directed by David Dhawan, with the title Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai itself inspired by another popular song from Biwi No. 1.
Amid mixed reactions from fans over the remix, Abhijeet Bhattacharya shared his opinion during a conversation with ANI and made it clear that he prefers the original version featuring Salman Khan. Speaking about the song’s popularity and Salman’s presence in it, the singer said, “Yeh gaana Salman ki life ka biggest song tha. Jab aayi thi, tab se ab tak trending hai. Salman Khan ki life ka sabse bada hit hai ‘Chunnari Chunnari’. Uss waqt ek rising star tha, not a superstar (this song was one of the biggest songs of Salman Khan’s career. Since its release, it has continued to remain popular and trending. It has remained to be his biggest bit. At that point, Salman was still a rising star and not yet a superstar).”
Abhijeet further took a dig at Varun Dhawan while comparing the two actors. “The actor has only done second-hand films, especially when his father directed the original films. He also uses the same songs that were once a hit. Varun Dhawan iss gaane se Salman Khan nahin ban sakta (Varun Dhawan cannot be a Salman Khan with this song). There is a big difference between Salman Khan and Varun Dhawan,” he said.
The singer also expressed disappointment over the treatment of the recreated version. “When I heard the song, I thought it was a bhajan. ‘Chunnari Chunnari’ was originally a romantic track, and they have now turned it into a bhajan,” he remarked.
He concluded by adding, “If they had approached me for the remake, I would still rethink before doing it. My original version had a lot of acting. I am very happy that I didn’t do the song because it would have been degraded. The way we did it in the original version, Varun couldn’t have done it the same manner. He played it safe.”
Produced by Ramesh Taurani’s Tips Films, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is slated to release on June 5.
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