‘Chak De India song was rejected 7 times, we almost quit film,’ recall composers; say SRK-starrer picked up after track played at India-Pakistan T20 match

However, the makers didn’t like the patriotic tone of the song and asked the composers to change it. During the interaction, the composers revealed that the song was rejected seven times by the makers, which almost led them to quit the film. But they decided against it, as it was a big project.

The composers recalled Aditya Chopra’s brief to them, which eventually led them to nailing the song. Salim Merchant recalled, “Aditya Chopra told me, ‘I want the whole India to sing this song when India wins any kind of game, whether it is cricket, hockey, chess, or any other games. Let’s make a sports anthem. Just like the whole world dances to the track ‘Jooma Chumma De De’, just like that.’”

Salim admitted that they took inspiration from Amitabh Bachchan’s song and realised that it would sound good if they used the word “Chak De” twice. The composers further revealed that the song, which was rejected seven times, was made within just two hours after Aditya’s brief. “We were dying for four months. The song was just not being made but all the obstacles just vanished,” Salim said.

Salim Merchant also recalled that Chak De India got the lowest opening of Shah Rukh Khan’s career. However, the film pulled audiences into theatres after the song was played during the 2007 T20 final between India and Pakistan. “The film didn’t have a good opening, but it picked up on Monday because during the weekend, India played against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final and we won the match. The song became popular and so did the film,” he recalled.

The composers also lauded Yash Chopra’s instinct and remembered how the legendary filmmaker asked them to give a song for a crucial sequence just a week before Chak De India’s release. They shared that they had earlier made a song for the film Dor, which was rejected by director Nagesh Kukunoor. They reused the melody of that track for the song “Maula Mere,” and that’s how they were able to deliver it in a week.

“We had made the song for Dor, but the director wanted something positive, so he refused this song. We realised the melody of the rejected song fits with the situation of Chak De India,” Salim said.

The composers also shared the story behind another hit track, “Halkat Jawani,” from Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Heroine. Salim Merchant said he was against using the word “Halkat,” which led to creative conflict with Bhandarkar, who insisted on keeping it.

“Madhur was stuck with this word. It came to a situation where you either do this song or leave the film. We had done the whole film by then, so we had to compromise and agreed to take this risk. Nobody else had a problem with that word apart from us,” Salim said.

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