Malaika Arora on ‘big heroines’ who refused to climb on the train for Dil Se’s Chaiyya Chaiyya: ‘It turned out to be beneficial for me’

At a recent press conference in Mumbai, where Malaika was promoting first-ever VR music video ‘Tera Ki Khaya’ with Guru Randhawa on Tuesday, the dancer- actor said that she is thankful to all the heroines who rejected Chaiyya Chaiyaa.

She said, “It’s good that people rejected that song because it turned out to be beneficial for me. I am very happy. I believe in kismet. I think it was meant to happen. I got to work with the best, right from Farah Khan to Shah Rukh Khan, to Mani Ratnam to AR Rahman to Santosh Sivan. I had the opportunity to work with the best in the business.”

“Even after 25 years, if you start to think of a song that created a huge impact on the big screen, everybody says that Chaiyya Chaiyya is one of those songs. Even today, people sing and dance on that song. I still get love for that song. So, I am very happy that I got to be a part of such a blockbuster song,” Malaika added.

Farah Khan, who choreographed Chaiyya Chaiyya, had earlier revealed that Shilpa Shetty was approached for the song first. While in conversation with Malaika on her TV reality show Moving In With Malaika, Farah had shared with Malaika, “You’re the Chaiyya Chaiyya girl. But luckily for you, some five heroines had refused to climb on the train.”

She had also revealed how one of the make-up persons on the sets of Dil Se recommended Malaika. She had said, “Malaika was nowhere on the radar. We approached Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Shilpa Shirodkar, and 2-3 other people. One had a phobia of climbing on the train, one was not available. Then the makeup person said, Malaika is a very good dancer. When she climbed on the train, we were curious whether she would pull it off or not. But the rest, as we know, is history.”

Chaiyya Chaiyya’s hook steps with Malaika and Shah Rukh Khan dancing on a moving train are some very tough dance moves. In an earlier interview with indianexpress.com when SRK was asked if given a chance, what would he tell his 25-year-old self? He had said, “If I look back to my life, I would tell my 25-year-old self to take it easy, and not be jumping on my knees and dancing on the trains for Chaiya Chaiya and for Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. Many people had told me then to take it easy, but I was young and I wanted to do it all. But now it is painful at times to even do normal stuff, and I get frustrated. So I think I should have been a little careful. But when you are 25 you are silly and stupid. So you have to be yourself, do everything you like, have fun because that is a part of life.”