Abhijeet Bhattacharya says his experience with AR Rahman was ‘unmusical’: ‘There was no method to the work, I refused songs with him’

Abbhijeet Bhattacherya spoke about his 'unmusical' experience of working with music composer AR Rahman.

New Delhi | September 27, 2023 04:39 PM IST

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Abhijeet Bhattacharya spoke about working with AR Rahman. (Photo: Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Dabboo Ratnani/Instagram)

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Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who is known for his hit songs in films like Yes Boss and Baadshah among others, recently shared that through his career of many years, he only worked with music director AR Rahman on two occasions and he did not have a pleasant experience. Abhijeet was one of the most popular singers in the 1990s, and AR Rahman was one of the most popular composers of that time.

In a chat with Lehren Retro, Abhijeet recalled that Rahman had called him for a song in the film Rangeela. The song in question was ‘Kya Kare Kya Na Kare’ and Abhijeet revealed that Udit Narayan had already recorded that song. “They called me saying the song has been changed, and since Udit has already sung for the character, your vocals will be used in a different way,” he said. Abhijeet then said that “there was no method to the work” and he found himself waiting around the hotel room for long hours. He also recalled that he missed his other appointments the next day because he was stuck in Chennai. The singer said he had no idea what the song was all about as he was not given anything to rehearse beforehand.

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“I realised that this is not a place for music. He was just recording patches,” Abhijeet said. The singer shared that he found the experience “unmusical.” Eventually, he found that the composer retained Udit’s version. A few years later, Rahman called him again to record ‘Ae Nazneen Suno Na’ from the Dil Hi Dil Mein and this time, he was called to record at 2:30 am, resulting in him missing his next day’s appointments. He shared that when he recorded this song, Rahman wasn’t even present and he sang under the supervision of Rahman’s assistant.

Following the success of this song, when Rahman’s team called him again, the singer put his foot down and said he would only work as per his own schedule and wouldn’t sit around for days to record with the composer. They never worked with each other again.

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