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Amitabh Bachchan is one of the most respected actors in India but not many know that Bachchan also has a keen interest in music. In a recent interview, music composer Shankar Mahadevan said that Bachchan was a key contributor when Shankar Ehsaan Loy composed ‘Kajra Re’ for Bunty Aur Babli. Shankar recalled that Amitabh Bachchan would hang out with them in the studio as they were composing the song and had an idea for the ‘vocal jugalbandi’ in the beginning of the song.
In a chat with The New Indian, Shankar said, “Bachchan sir used to come to the studio, hang out with us and he would jam with us. It was Bachchan sir’s idea to have the ‘dhin dhinak dhin‘… the idea of this vocal juganbandi came from him. Because the song used to start with ‘Mera chain vain sab ujda‘. He said ‘let’s have a little vocal jugalbandi before that’. I did that in five minutes and he was very happy with that. The idea was his contribution.”
‘Kajra Re’ begins with a verse sung by Alisha Chinai which is accompanied by the sound of harmonium. It is then followed by some cheers from the crowd and then, the ‘vocal jugalbandi’ starts. Written by Gulzar, the song was sung by Alisha, Shankar and Javed Ali, and picturised on Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, with choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant. Shankar’s voice has been picturised on Amitabh and Javed’s voice is lip-synced by Abhishek in the film.
Shankar recalled that he recorded the song just as a dummy version and wanted another singer to come in and record for Bachchan but the veteran actor was so impressed by Shankar’s vocals that he insisted him to retain it. “I thought that I have just sung the guide voice because I wanted some other singer to come and dub for him. I had never sung for Amitabh Bachchan. So I told him ‘Sir, this is just a guide voice so we will dub it later.’ He asked ‘Who are you going to call?’ I said ‘Some other singer can come and dub’. He said ‘Usko hath lagaoge toh I’ll kill you (If you touch it, I’ll kill you). This stays the way it is. This is going to be your voice and I just love your voice. just let it be.’ That’s when my thing of singing for Bachchan saab started,” he recalled.
Shankar said that it was after ‘Kajra Re’ that he sang for ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ and ‘Rock n Roll Soniye’ and became Bachchan’s voice on screen. He then shared that Bachchan himself is a musician who enjoys different kinds of music and has his own music set up at home. “He has always blessed me. He is fantastic. He is a musician. He listens to music a lot and has his own music set up. He loves fusion music, improvisation, Indian classical, everything,” he said.
‘Kajra Re’ continues to be a popular song and has received a lot of praise for its lyric writing by Gulzar.
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