Vishal Bhardwaj, Armaan-Amaal to debut on MTV Unplugged

Mumbai: Filmmaker and music director Vishal Bhardwaj, and musical brother duo of Armaan Malik and Amaal Malik will debut in the upcoming season of Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged.

The upcoming season of the show has a lot to offer to the music lovers as for the first time, legendary singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan would perform along with his sons — Siddharth and Shivam.

Vishal Bhardwaj is debuting on the show in collaboration with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

On the occasion of the show launch here on Wednesday, some of the singers interacted with the media.

Shankar Mahadevan, who would be performing with his sons, said: “I have been composing songs in this industry for last 25 years but this is the biggest high an artist and a father can ever have, singing along with his sons on the same platform.”

“I revisited some of the songs that I recorded 25 years ago, so recreating those songs in today’s time, signing them live was a unique experience; quite magical,” Vishal Bhardwaj said.

Asked on recreating old songs for films, a trend in Bollywood at present, Shankar said: “I have never been approached for that and I think people who worked with us always want us to make original music. So as a music composer I have never rehashed any old songs, except for ‘Pretty Woman’ in ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.”

Singer Rekha Bhardwaj, however, said she would not mind singing a recreated version of the song if it does not kill the soul of the original one.

“If the new version beautifies the song more, I have no problem to sing it,” she said.

Vishal, however, said he loves to celebrate original songs in all his film.

“Using a recreated version of any song is a film director’s individual choice and that varies from person to person. I personally do not like the idea of using an old song in a new film, rather take pride in creating an original song.”

The 7th season of Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged will be telecast from December 9, every Saturday at 8 p.m.

IANS