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Riteish Deshmukh on his rap debut with the single, Thank God Bappa...
Upala KBR (DNA; September 1, 2016)

Riteish Deshmukh released a music video Thank God Bappa Aapla Sarkha Nasto, yesterday. The star has sung a full song for the first time in his career and the video has been produced by his wife Genelia D’Souza Deshmukh.

While his look in the video is from Banjo, Riteish assures that there is no agenda behind the video. “Let me clarify that the song has no commercial associations. Neither does it have anything to do with Banjo. It happened just from a discussion on the sets of the film when writer Kapil Sawant told me about his idea. I thought it was interesting. He said he would write it and get back to me and asked would I sing it, if I liked it. I said ‘why not?’ as I can sing, the rhythm is simple and there’s a groove to it. I haven’t sung before but I wasn’t nervous.”

The lyrics are unconventional and talk about how Bappa’s devotees in today’s times have become selfish, greedy and materialistic. “I didn’t have any reservations about the tone of the lyrics as the concept was in sync with my thoughts. It’s been written by Amar Mangrulkar and shot by Manoj Lobo. The whole idea was let go and make a video. It’s more like an initiative — something we all wanted to say and we have said it. It’s a thought pertaining to today’s times and yet the intention was not to disrespect anyone’s faith. So many people have been celebrating Ganpati so nicely for years. It’s not a take on them, but a take on how some sections have started to celebrate this festival just for competition and for their egos.”

Ritiesh adds that they shot the video in five hours flat, “It was a rushed shoot. Genelia has produced the song. We are all so excited about it. My older son and the other kids at home are all dancing to it. We wanted the song to be relevant to the Ganpati festival and that’s why we released this song just five days before the festival.”

Why did he ask his Housefull 3 co-star Akshay Kumar to release the video on social media instead of doing it himself? “Akshay is a very dear friend of mine. I sent the music video across to him and he really liked it. In fact, we spoke for some time about it. When Akshay and I talk we only converse in Marathi. I asked him if he would be interested in launching the song? He said, of course, I will do it for you and he did.”