Jagjit Singh is celebrated as one of the most iconic voices in Indian music history. Among his many unforgettable songs, Koi Fariyaad from Tum Bin (2001) stands out, a track that captured the very soul of the film. The song’s emotional depth wasn’t easy to achieve, as director Anubhav Sinha once revealed, according to Filmfare: “Ghazal was to play a very integral part in telling the story. Faaiz Anwar was essentially a shayar and not a lyricist, but when I told him to write a ghazal for Tum Bin, the whole idea was I’d approve one sher (couplet) and then he would write the song around that.
He would tell me a sher every now and then, and I kept refusing. Finally, I was at some shoot and he called me, and recited the lines ‘Ek lamhe mein simat aaya hai sadiyon ka safar. Zindagi tez bahut tez chali ho jaise.’ I jumped at it and said this is it! He started laughing and asked me if I was aware that it was the 82nd sher, which means I had already rejected 81 shers.”
AI-generated rendition of Koi Fariyaad
However, the latest rendition of the song, released by T-Series two days ago, has stirred some controversy. The music label launched an AI-generated rendition of Koi Fariyaad, keeping Jagjit Singh’s timeless voice and original lyrics intact, but presenting a stop-motion visual treatment where the people on screen appear eerily not-human. The new direction, by Shreya Mehrotra and Gourov Dasgupta, was produced by Cyberpunk Studio.
Netizens were quick to share their disappointment. On Reddit, one user said, “Man the song itself has so much emotion and then when u go watch the video u see this soulless bs 🥲🙏.” Others chimed in with comments like, “what a joke,” “T series Short Of Money. Old Songs And AI Videos,” and “sad song ko comedy song bana diya hai.” Several fans felt that AI could never capture the emotional nuance of the original actors, with one writing, “AI can’t ever replace Priyanshu and Sandali Sinha… AI can’t explain eye expressions ever.” Another tried to see the silver lining: “They are doing an experiment i guess.”
The AI-fication of music videos
This is not T-Series’ first foray into AI music videos. In August 2025, the label collaborated with Google’s Veo 3 model and Cyberpunk Studio to produce an AI-generated video bringing the late singer KK back to life.
But with Koi Fariyaad, it seems that the emotional essence of the song is difficult to translate through AI, sparking an ongoing debate amongst netizens. What do you think about this?
