Believe it or not, the druggies’ anthem ‘Dum maro dum mit jaye gham’ from Hare Rama Hare Krishna which clocks 54 years on December 9, was to be sung by Lata Mangeshkar!! It was designed as a duet featuring Lataji and Usha Uthup.
Composer Rahul Dev Burman’s original plan was to do the song as a sober-versus-stoned anthem on drugs. But then the film’s producer-director-leading man Dev Anand, who had a keen ear for music, suggested Asha Bhosle for ‘Dum maro dum’.
“I wanted a young vibrant sound for Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Which is why I took Burman Dada (Sachin Dev Burman)’s permission to sign his son. When Pancham came to me with ‘Dum maro dum’ I wasn’t too sure of how it would be welcomed. It was a completely new sound. But we took a risk and it paid off. Lata sang two beautiful solos ‘Phoolon ka taaron ka’, ‘Ho ho re ghungroo’ and a lovely duet ‘Kanchi re’ for me in Hare Rama Hare Krishna. ‘Dum maro dum’ didn’t seem right for her,” Dev Saab told me.
That’s how Asha stepped in. Even after her sterling singing the song almost didn’t make it into the film. When Dev Anand heard ‘Dum maro dum’ he told RD he found it strange and decided to drop it from the film .
As Dev Saab explained to me, “The very serious Kishore Kumar song ‘Dekho oh diwanon tum yeh kaam na karo Ram ka naam badnaam na karo’ came immediately after ‘Dum maro dum’. I was a little apprehensive that ‘Dum maro dum’ would dilute the impact of ‘Dekho oh diwanon’.”
In a panic, RD pleaded to at least let the song be part of the film’s soundtrack album, if not part of the film.
Eventually, ‘Dum maro dum’ was filmed and became one of the biggest hits of RD and Asha’s career.
In 2011, Rohan Sippy got composer Pritam to do a completely revamped version of ‘Dum Maro Dum’ for a film of that title with new lyrics.
I had never seen Dev Saab so angry. “This is sheer desecration. They didn’t have the decency to ask me before using ‘Dum Maro Dum’ as they wished. What about R D Burman, Asha Bhosle, Anand Bakshi and me? What about the people who actually created ‘Dum Maro Dum’?”
