Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has paid homage to 1959’s Asha Bhosle Holi chartbuster ‘Are Ja Re Hat Natkhat for Mere Pyare Prime Minister. Not only that he shoots it in a single take!
Now that’s how one would rather pay homage to a yesteryear chartbuster number.
In the era of recreated songs that mushroom practically every week, filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has done something different for his latest offering Mere Pyare Prime Minister. For a situation in the film that involved Holi celebrations, he has recreated Asha Bhosle sung ‘Are Ja Re Hat Natkhat’. However, instead of just picking the germ of the original and then turning it around totally, he has actually ensured that a large part of the song was retained with just a few new added elements.
“That’s what the composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has done with the original song that was created by C. Ramchandra for the 1959 film Navrang,” informs our source, “Titled ‘Bajaa Bajaa Bajaa Dhol Bajaa Re’, the song is quite lively and entertaining, and that’s also because Asha Bhosle’s voice is retained and overall arrangements haven’t been touched either. That brings the vintage value in there, hence adding on to the nostalgic quotient.”
It is pretty amazing to hear the song exactly 60 years after it was conceived and as the adage goes, it is music to the ears.
“The idea was to pay homage to an original number, not massacre it,” a senior unit member adds, “Gulzar saab came for added lyrics and the entire team of singers in the form of Shankar Mahadevan, Divya Kumar, Rekha Bhardwaj, Shrinidhi Ghatate and Neela Mulhekar joined each other behind the mike. However, the idea was to compliment Asha Bhosle for what she had already done, not override her efforts.”
As for the filmmaker himself, he decided to do his own bit and the results can be seen, what with the entire song been shot in a single take.
“You see Anjali Patil, the leading lady of the film, as the center of attraction and while she leads the charge, there are four to five other characters who support her in this dance number. Logistically, it is very tough to put together choreography like this, especially since it is set in outdoors and there are so many moving parts. Moreover, there are colors flowing in all directions, dozens of extras in the background, camera angles that are continuously changing and the expressions that need to be consistent,” the unit member adds.
Still, the team managed to pull it off and the results are there to be seen on the screen.
As for the film, it tells the story of a kid (played by Om Kanojiya) who reaches out to the Prime Minister of the country requesting basic sanitation facilities after his mother (Anjali Patil) is raped. Now one would like to see how it all plays on the big screen once Mere Pyare Prime Minister, which has Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra tying up with Jayantilal Gada (of Pen) for the film’s theatrical release, arrives this Friday.
