Scroll through Instagram reels on any given day, you will stumble upon not just the latest Arijit Singh ballad or a Taylor Swift chorus, but also Lata Mangeshkar’s “Hum Tere Pyaar Mein Saara Aalam Kho Baithe Hai”, often paired with aesthetic visuals. On World Music Day on June 21, clips of Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar trended again, revived by young artists crooning it live on stages and in living rooms.Mohammad Rafi’s “Kya Hua Tera Vaada” resurfaced earlier this year when cricket fans used it to mourn Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s Test retirements, while the soulful “Jiya Lage Na Tum Bin Mora” continues to soundtrack reels of heartbeat.Sometimes the use is playful —” Inteha Ho Gayi” from Sharaabi is a favorite for celebrity reels, while a cheeky political satire edit during the US tariff trade war borrowed the line “Tariff Karoon Kya Uski Jisne Tumhe Banaya”.And then there’s the grassroots revival: Ananya Sharma, a 19-year-old creator, went viral for father-daughter duets of Kishore Kumar classics, while Pune’s own Sarvesh Rotkar has built a city-wide fanbase performing retro Bollywood at concerts. Add to this the flood of Kishore Kumar’s voice recreated by AI for Dhoni biopic edits and live gigs where Sonu Nigam and Shaan pull bigger cheers for old songs than their own — the evidence is clear.Old Bollywood is not just surviving, it is trendingSrushti Maheshwari, 21, calls music “a gateway to emotions”. On her Spotify history, Pritam and Arijit dominate, but her personal favourite is the half-century-old “Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar”.“Old songs were honest. They evoked emotions without trying too hard. Today, music often becomes background noise — while riding a scooter, while cooking, while writing notes. Earlier, songs had a vibe of their own,” she says.Story continues below this adAI and autotune, she worries, are replacing emotion with algorithms. “Will any 2025 song still be sung in 2075? I doubt it.”For Rajas Paranjape, 18, the love was inherited. “I hated old songs when my father and cousins played them. Now I love them. They have metaphors and meaning that new tracks often lack. Kishore Kumar is my favourite — the fact that we share a birthday makes it special.” Listening to retro music, he adds, gives him an identity beyond the mainstream in his friend group.Sarvesh Deshpande , 22, is blunt about why he avoids most new tracks. “Too much autotune, and too much foreign influence. For me, music is about lyrics and raw emotions you can connect to directly.” He believes remixes aren’t reviving old songs but diluting them. “After Rafi, Lata and Kishore, the last golden voices were KK and Mohit Chauhan. Today, we need songs that are fresh but also meditative.”For Aditya Satpute, 21, the charm lies in depth. A guitarist himself, he finds ghazals and qawwalis more authentic than electronic beats. “Old music has a maahol, an atmosphere you feel between the tabla and guitar. If I had to explain Bollywood music to a foreigner, I would tell them to listen between the lines.” He has experimented with AI-generated songs but finds them “mediocre” compared to the richness of real instruments.Story continues below this adEven streaming platforms confirm the trend: a 2024 Spotify report listed Kishore Kumar among the most streamed retro artists in India, proving that a generation born long after the Walkman still sways to his voice.Viraj Mandar Paranjape is an intern with The Indian Express.