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Asha Bhosle and RD Burman, the singer-composer duo delivered many hits across the three decades they worked together, but some of the most memorable songs created by Pancham, and sung by Asha, have an evergreen sound. And one of those memorable tracks is Teesri Manzil’s ‘Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera’, sung by Asha and Mohd Rafi with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Starring Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh in lead roles, Teesri Manzil was directed by Vijay Anand, and produced by Nasir Hussain, and in many ways, it defined Shammi’s on-screen persona, that he continued to carry for decades. While the entire album of Teesri Manzil – ‘O Mere Sona Re Sona’, ‘O Haseena Zulfonwali Jane Jahan’, ‘Deewana Mujhsa Nahin’ and ‘Tumne Mujhe Dekha’ – continues to be popular amid fans, it was the magic of ‘Aaja Aaja’ that got RD Burman the chance to make music for this film. On Asha Bhosle’s birthday today, here’s recalling the story.
In a 1984 interview with Filmfare, RD shared that it was lyric writer Majrooh Sultanpuri who recommended his name to Nasir Hussain for the film. The film was previously supposed to star Dev Anand but after a spat between Dev and Nasir, Shammi replaced him and that’s when problems arose for Pancham. Shammi’s go-to music composers were Shankar Jaikishen so RD had to really prove himself to grab the gig.
In a chat with Filmfare in 1984, RD Burman recalled the kind of audition he had to give to get the film. “I believe my chances of doing the film were kaput then as Shammi, at that time, was king, behaved like one and had his own group. But Jaikishen, whom Shammi approached to come in as music director, convinced him that I was good and should be given a chance. Shammi relented. He came over one day and ordered, ‘Eh Pancham, gana sunao’,” he recalled.
Asha Bhosle recalled the next part of the story at a screening of Teesri Manzil in 2010 as she shared at a press conference with Aamir Khan. “The first tune he played for them was ‘Deewana Mujhsa Nahi’. Shammi Kapoor immediately got up and said, ‘Yeh kya gaana hai? (What kind of song is it?)’ Nasir saab thought the film was gone now. Nasir saab was sitting with his head in his hands. Then Pancham played the next song. ‘Aaja Aaja Main Hu Pyaar Tera’. Listening to this, Shammi Kapoor got up and started dancing. That’s how RD Burman got this film,” she shared.
After RD Burman bagged the film, he went to Asha with his news, and requested her to be the voice of the film. In fact, ‘Aaja Aaja’ was the first song that he played for her and while at first, she believed that it was like any other song, she soon realised. when he got to the ‘Ah Ah Aaja, Ah Ah Aaja’ part, that this one needed a long rehearsal. At the same press conference, Asha shared that it took her eight days to rehearse the song as it required a lot of control on her breath. “RD came to me and said ‘I have got a film, Asha ji. Will you sing my song?’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s my job to sing’. When I heard the song, I was like ‘Are baap re’. It took me eight days to practice and prepare the song.
In fact, at one point, Asha’s driver almost drove her to the hospital as he felt that she was in the middle of a medical emergency, given how she was breathing. Little did he know that this was going to be a memorable expression in one of the most popular songs of its time. Asha shared the story behind this on Indian Idol and said, “I started practising the main tune in my car so much that one day, my driver got worried. Once we reached Haji Ali, which is where I stay, my driver suddenly asked me if I wanted to visit the hospital as he thought I was gasping for breath. It was a really funny moment.”
Asha was quite worried about her performance in the song and needed a confidence boost so she landed at her sister Lata Mangeshkar’s doorstep. Asha recalled Lata’s words as her sister told her, “You are forgetting that you are a Mangeshkar first and later Bhosle. Go sing the song, you will do good.”
Asha and RD were quite in sync with each other when it came to their work. Some of their best known tracks include – ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’, ‘Aao Na Gale Lagao Na’, ‘O Haseena Zulfonwali’ among many others. RD believed that no one but Asha could sing his compositions. “No one else could sing Pancham’s songs. I can claim that proudly. If I did not sing those songs… Pancham himself told me that if you don’t sing these songs, then I will stop composing these songs. I will start making ‘Raghupati Raghav’. He said that. He said other singers cannot sing the way you sing. They just don’t have it,” she told Couple of Things’ YouTube channel.
Asha and RD Burman got married in 1980, and stayed married until his passing in 1994.
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