Dil To Pagal Hai music composer recalls Uday Chopra’s pivotal contribution to film’s album, Pam Chopra called it ‘India’s Sound of Music’

Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dil To Pagal Hai, directed by Yash Chopra, recently completed 26 years of its release. Also starring Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, the film was one of the biggest hits of 1997 and is still celebrated for its music by Uttam Singh. With songs like “Are re are”, “Le gayi” and even the instrumental “Dance of envy”, the movie was a musical hit too. On the film’s 26th anniversary, Uttam recalled that the film’s core song “Are re are”, which appears in the movie at various pivotal points, was actually selected by Uday Chopra.

In a chat with Bollywood Hungama, Uttam recalled that throughout the music sittings of the film, he would play the tune of “Are re are” for everyone but no one paid any heed to it but he really liked the tune so he kept pitching it over and over again. The composer recalled that he would play it for Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Pam Chopra and others who would attend the music sittings. He then shared, “One day, Uday came in and I played it for him. I told him no one likes it but I really like it so you listen to this. He said, ‘Papa, this is fantastic.’ The moment he said this is fantastic, everyone sat up.”

Uttam Singh shared that even though he had gotten a green signal for the tune, he started doubting it later. “I thought maybe this is not good,” he shared and that’s when he called lyric writer Anand Bakshi. “I made him hear the music. He listened and went to the bathroom. He came back and he had the lyrics for Are re are,” he shared.

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Uttam Singh said that Pamela Chopra, the wife of Yash Chopra who was an active contributor throughout the making of his movies, called the album “India’s Sound of Music” and said that such kind of music in films is rare.

Despite his immense success with Yash Raj Films, Uttam never worked in any other YRF film after Dil To Pagal Hai.