Jagjit Singh, a legend in the Indian music scene, gifted the world with numerous timeless melodies. Among them, “Koi Fariyaad” from the 2001 film Tum Bin holds a special place, beautifully capturing the film’s emotional core. Director Anubhav Sinha once shared the challenging journey of crafting the song’s profound lyrics, which involved rejecting 81 couplets before finding the perfect fit for the lines, ‘Ek lamhe mein simat aaya hai sadiyon ka safar. Zindagi tez bahut tez chali ho jaise.’
More recently, T-Series released an AI-generated version of “Koi Fariyaad,” which has unfortunately drawn significant criticism. While the iconic voice and lyrics of Jagjit Singh remain, the accompanying stop-motion visuals feature eerily non-human characters. This artistic choice, directed by Shreya Mehrotra and Gourov Dasgupta and produced by Cyberpunk Studio, has left many fans deeply disappointed. Online discussions, particularly on Reddit, are filled with comments like “soulless BS,” “what a joke,” and accusations that T-Series is prioritizing quantity over quality by relying on old songs and AI visuals. Many argue that AI can never replicate the nuanced human emotion and expressive power of the original actors, lamenting that the AI video transforms a poignant song into something akin to comedy.
This isn’t the first time T-Series has experimented with AI music videos; they previously collaborated with Google’s Veo 3 model to recreate late singer KK. However, with “Koi Fariyaad,” the sentiment is clear: the emotional essence that makes a song truly resonate seems difficult, if not impossible, for AI to capture, fueling a passionate debate among listeners and raising questions about the future of AI in music.