Why everyone loves to hate Himesh Reshammiya?
This guy gave 20 odd hits in a year and everyone seemed to talk about him. The established contemporary singers criticized his nasal singing but their comments reeked of jealousy and utter contempt that their words spit made envy more obvious. If somebody asks you “Do you like Himesh?” and you say “Yes” just to find the other guy smiling or probably even laughing as if you have said the worst three letters of your life. Well, the guy who popped the question likes him too but is not willing to accept this. Why? Why, it has become fashionable to criticize this man with a cap who has taken the Indian film music scene by a storm; the man who kicked the reigning singers southward. People feel embarrassed to admit that they listen to Himesh Reshammiya but the truth remains that you cannot avoid this man – he rules the lounger bars, discos, pubs, auto rickswaws, taxis, paan stalls, music shops and malls. You listen to him at home too. Then, why do you feel compelled to say that don’t like him?
The same phenomenon happened when Altaf Raja became a rage in mid 1990s. Every truck driver, every local vendor, every shop played it. In the movie KKHH, they made fun of this song and suddenly, people who liked “tum to thehre pardesi” went into hiding to never come out. It was fashionable at that time to laugh at anyone who liked Altaf Raja. Unfortunately, a great career for Altaf came to screeching halt. This wouldn’t happen to Himesh, fortunately, very fortunately!
Let us see what makes Himesh Reshammiya click. His brand of music is contemporary. He has learnt music and he sings well. His tunes are catchy (and more often than not original). He is sincere – completes his work on time for producers. Gives producers and directors a wide range of tunes to choose from (he has 1000 odd tunes in stock at all times), he improvises (listen to the track “Viraaniya” from Namaste London. He has used the word *Jaana *from the lyrics to blend it with the tune. Amazing.)!
Recently, Pritam has been called a great music director. Pritam has successfully been able to fool the great Indian audience by stealing songs from all languages other than English. Recent ones – “Kya mujhe pyaar hai” (copied to the T from a Spanish song), “Yaa Ali” (copied with all the beats and musical elements from an Arabic song) – from Pritam have been raved about. What pity, we (the people) don’t want to stand apart and follow the crowd as long as possible. Talking what everyone else is gives one a feeling of safety that a child has inside mother’s womb.
Sony Nigam thinks Himesh is an awful singer. A brief bio of Sonu here – he started singing the remixed (with jhankar beats) songs of Md. Rafi. It took him a long time to establish himself as a good singer. He sang bhajans (again with jhankar beat). [For the uninitiated, jhankar beats is the form of remix where you play the exact tunes of an old song but replace and add shrill instruments to the arrangement. It makes it good to hear on a low-end audio system (especially the ones in trucks, auto, taxis, paanwala’s shop to name a few). It is not a thing that people who can afford to read this article on internet would know. It is a poor man’s remix]
Sonu has struggled hard – he deserves his success but then how could he even criticize Himesh. Is it lack of humility, success –gone-to-head, or something else? They say humility is like torn pants which hide but nothing. Oh! Sonu believes in shouting from his rooftop that he is a great singer.
(contd... in comments section)