5 min readAug 1, 2026 12:19 PM IST First published on: Aug 1, 2026 at 12:19 PM ISTThe distinct identity of Rambha ho, Bappi Lahiri’s riotous disco anthem picturised on the ’80s actor Kalpana Iyer in Armaan (1981), has always been held by playback singer Usha Uthup’s booming voice. So much so that Uthup’s theatrical swagger and distinct timbre remain etched in mass imagination. Almost half a century later, composer Shashwat Sachdev approached 37-year-old Madhubanti Bagchi to recreate the song for Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar. Her first instinct was to say no. “With remakes, when the first version has worked so well, I don’t think one is required to mess with it, unless you are thinking about something revolutionary or placing it in a new context,” says 37-year-old Bagchi, who was equally uneasy about comparisons.It was Sachdev’s treatment of the song that changed her mind. His idea was to let the original and the new flow into each other, punctuated by gunshots on screen. “Shashwat is an impulsive composer and he lets you be in your element,” says Bagchi, who recorded the song in her full-bodied voice two days before the grand music launch of Dhurandhar in a frantic studio. Bagchi says she managed to find enough room within the classic to sound like herself. But the ultimate validation for Bagchi came when Uthup approved. “I played her the song and she was very encouraging,” says Bagchi, in a Zoom conversation from Mumbai.