The ‘Chunnari Chunnari - Let’s Go’ single, which was recently released by the makers of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, has been receiving plenty of criticism. While the song has already garnered more than 11 million YouTube hits, social media is also abuzz with posts about how the song doesn’t capture the fun quality of the original ‘Chunnari Chunnari’ song from the 1999 film Biwi No 1 that was sung by Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Anurdha Sriram. Abhijeet has now weighed in on the subject.

Speaking to Zoom, Abhijeet clarified that he was not informed of the song getting a remake. Reflecting on how many of his songs have helped actors in achieving their stardom, Abhijeet added, “Two of the biggest hits of Salman’s career — Chunnari Chunnari and Tan Tana Tan — were sung by me. If someone’s voice suits a star, they become superstars.”

Abhijeet also didn’t mince words while comparing Salman Khan and Varun Dhawan, who plays the lead actor in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. He stated, “They made a wise decision by not retaining my voice in the song. Varun Dhawan can’t do justice to the song I sang. He would have received brickbats. Salman became a superstar with that song, Varun can’t become anything. The difference between Salman and Varun is akin to difference between Amitabh Bachchan and Asrani.”

While Anu Malik composed the original song, the music credits for the remake version have been given to Akshay and IP Singh. IP has also penned the  additional lyrics are by IP Singh. The song video choreographed by Remo D’Souza, also features Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde alongside Varun. The list of playback singers include IP Singh, Jonita Gandhi, Asees Kaur, Sudhir Yaduvanshi, and Anuradha Sriram. 

Directed by David Dhawan, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is set for theatrical release on June 5.