Lokah: Chapter 1 Chandra, the Kalyani Priyadarshan starrer superhero movie has emerged as the highest grossing Malayalam film of all time. The film has particularly received great praises for its VFX visuals, world-building and funky soundtrack by Jakes Bejoy. While the makers had released complete soundtrack of the film a few days ago, which comprises of various background music pieces used in the film, the soundtrack doesn’t include that one piece of music which became the most memorable for film goers — the remix version of ‘Kiliye Kiliye’.
Originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the 1983 film Aa Rathri and sung by S Janaki, ‘Kiliye Kiliye’ was remixed by DJ Sekhar, and that version is used in Lokah: Chapter 1 in one particularly memorable sequence, which showcased a nervous Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan) arriving at a casual house party, looking angelic dressed in white as everyone stares at her, awed by her beauty. This particular went clip viral on social media around the time of film’s early days of release, compelling film lovers to google the around and find its original version.
The remix version used in Lokah also samples a club song titled ‘Come Closer’ by a Spanish Hip Hop artist named Guts for his album ‘Paradise for All', which was released in 2014.
However, what many people do not know is that Guts' ‘Come Closer’ itself heavily sampled the Bollywood song ‘Come Closer’ from the 1984 film Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki.
The funk-based song, with an unusually sharp bassline for its times, was composed by Bappi Lahiri and sung by Salma Agha, for the Mithun Chakravarthy starrer action-drama directed by B Subhash.
The song was picturised on Salma Agha and Karan Razdan, with Salma playing a femme fatale who chooses the dangerous path of entering the villain's den to prove her beloved's innocence and get out of him jail. Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki came in the wake of the phenomenal success of their previous blockbuster Disco Dancer, but failed to recreate similar magic at the box office.
The chain of inspiration doesn't end here.
What makes things more interesting is that ‘Come Closer’ itself is loosely inspired by the 1982 song ‘Music and Lights’ by the British group Imagination. While the melody differs and the arrangement is styled in a different way, the core groove and bassline are clearly a strong influence on the Bappi Lahiri composition which came 2 years later.
Even as Ilaiyaraaja's 'Kiliye Kiliye' enjoys a renewed legacy post the release of Lokah, it's fascinating that the original 'Kiliye Kiliye,' which had no similarities to either 'Music and Lights' or 'Come Closer,' has come to merge with both of them to create one of the iconic pop culture moments in contemporary Indian cinema 42 years later.
