Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara has been making waves both online and offline. People have been practising the vocals, learning to play it on instruments, and many are creating their own versions of the tracks from the film. Social media, too, is flooded with covers, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, all set to the Saiyaara’s title track. Sung by Faheem Abdullah, the ballad became the first Hindi song to top Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart. It also made it into Spotify’s Top 10 worldwide – a first for a Bollywood song.  

Riding on the popularity of the song, musicians RJ Krishna and Anshuman Sharma recreated the song, Saiyaara, in the iconic voice of Kishore Kumar using AI tools. Now, somebody paired this AI-generated version with visuals from the song Rimjhim Gire Sawan. 

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‘Not even 10% of KK’s voice’

As expected, the fusion went viral online, leading many to mistakenly believe that Kishore Kumar had originally sung Saiyaara. However, die-hard fans of the legendary singer were far from impressed. While the track caught on with some listeners, true Kishore fans chose not to sing along.

The viral video features visuals from the song Rimjhim Gire Sawan from the 1979 movie Manzil. The song, picturised on Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee, features music by RD Burman and lyrics by Yogesh. This Bollywood number was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. 

The song was filmed over two days during the monsoon season on the rain-washed streets of Mumbai in locations like Marine Drive, Gateway of India, and Churchgate.

Only true Kishore fans will not go ‘wow’: Social media

“Somebody made an AI-based Kishore Kumar version of the Saiyaara title song. Good effort with retro style rhythm arrangement… sounds better than the original.. Yet not even 10% of the power, energy, vibrancy, voice, singing of what KK could have achieved,” said one social media user. 

Another joined, “Unfair to compare anybody with Kishore. Even Lata Mangeshkar confessed that he was far superior and versatile. For me, the greatest of all time would surely be Kishore, Rafi and Mukesh.”

“Not on this song & video, please. It’s the best Mumbai Monsoon song. Nothing can better Rimjhim Gire Sawan,” said a third. 

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Yet another furious fan wrote, “India literally lost Real Creators in the music industry.”

“Only true Kishore fans will not go ‘wow’ on this video effort. The original song plus the video is a masterpiece. None can replace them, even if it may seem a perfect fit for some noob,” another Kishore Kumar fan protested. 

One commenter didn’t hold back, simply calling the AI recreation “blasphemy”.

“Horrendous. God’s gift cannot be imitated till the end of this world. It’s like trying to create a rainbow, a wind, sunshine… nope! Don’t look ugly in the name of intelligence,” opined another.