The remake of the iconic song Chunnari Chunnari was released on digital platforms on Tuesday. The remake is a part of the upcoming David Dhawan film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai featuring Varun Dhawan, Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur. While the remake of Chunnari Chunnari has sparked mixed reactions among cinephiles, veteran music composer Anu Malik, who originally worked on the chartbuster for the 1999 Salman Khan film Biwi No.1, has heaped praise on the revamped version. 

Anu Malik reacts to Chunnari Chunnari remake

Tagging the track timeless, Anu Malik said, “The song was a superhit before, it’s a superhit today, and it will remain a superhit tomorrow too.”

Anu Malik shared a video on Instagram of himself talking about the remade track, which features in the upcoming film “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai” starring Varun Dhawan, Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur.

He said on Instagram, “Chunnari Chunnari, Chunnari Chunnari. Guys, it`s been so long since I saw the song on a superstar on Varun Dhawan`s face. Earlier also this song was super hit when it came on Salman Khan. And Salman Khan took it to a different level.”

“And today again when I saw Varun, I was jumping with joy. What a dance, those girls are looking so beautiful… Pehle bhi gaana super hit tha, aaj bhi super hit aur kal bhi super hit rahega. (“The song was a superhit earlier, it’s a superhit today, and it will remain a superhit tomorrow as well.)”

“I`m looking forward to the film. David Dhawan ki koi bhi film aur Anu Malik toh dekhta hi dekhta hai. Itna kaam kiya hai David ke saath aur kya director hai.( Any film by David Dhawan and Anu Malik is always worth watching. I’ve worked so much with David, and what a director he is.”

“Looking forward to Hai Jawaani Toh Ish Hona Hai aur Aaja Na Mer Chunnari Sanam. Varun, tu kya nacha hai yaar. Kya lag raha hai gaana. (What dancing you have done Varun, what a song!) Congratulations.”

Abhijeet Bhattacharya reacts to the remake

Meanwhile, singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya who sang the original version with Anuradha Sriram expressed displeasure at the song`s remake. In an interview with Zoom, he 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 was the biggest song of Salman Khan. Since it came out, the song has been trending to date),” the singer shared.

“The actor (Varun Dhawan) has only done second-hand films, especially when his father (David Dhawan) directed the original films. He also uses the same songs that were once a hit. Varun Dhawan iss gaane se Salman Khan nahi ban sakta (Varun Dhawan can’t become Salman Khan by doing my songs). There is a big difference between Salman Khan and Varun Dhawan,” he added.

The senior singer also said that the makers of never reached out to him before recreating the song. “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’ve degraded. The way we did it in the original version, Varun couldn’t have done it the same manner. He played it safe,” he stated.