Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 10, 2020)

Mansoor Khan’s action-romance Josh, set in ’80s Vasco and unveiled on June 9, 2000, revolved around two rival street gangs, Eagles headed by Shah Rukh Khan’s Max Dias and Bichoo by Sharad Kapoor’s Prakash Sharma. Not many know that when the project was conceived, Mansoor had wanted his cousin Aamir Khan to play Rahul, Prakash’s younger brother who returns from Mumbai, falls in love with Max’s twin Shirley and decides to settle down in Goa, leading up to a bloody fight. “But Aamir wanted to play Max and thinking he could convince Shah Rukh to swap roles, Mansoor set up a joint narration with both. As soon as he arrived, Shah Rukh asked Mansoor, ‘Who’s Max?’ When told that Aamir wanted to do the role, he immediately walked out, saying he wasn’t doing the film,” recounts the film’s producer Ratan Jain.

After a few months, they decided to revive the film with Salman Khan, Akshaye Khanna or Saif Ali Khan. Later, since Chandrachur Singh was doing well at the time, they roped him in to play Rahul opposite Aishwarya Rai’s Shirley. But soon after, Salman was offered Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s love story Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam opposite Aishwarya and wasn’t sure he wanted to play her brother. “And that’s how Max and Josh returned to Shah Rukh,” shares Ratan ji.

He reveals that there was also a change in the music director after A R Rahman sent across a song after weeks of anticipation. “Unfortunately, neither Mansoor nor I liked it and when we asked for another one, Rahman told us he’d need a month. Since we were ready to shoot and didn’t want to delay the film, we decided to go with Anu Malik,” he informs.

Twenty years later, Anu recalls how devastated he was when he learnt that after the melodious Akele Hum Akele Tum, Mansoor would not be repeating him in Josh because he wanted to work with a new composer every time. Then, one day, he returned home at 7 am, caught a few hours of sleep before his next recording and was in the shower when the phone rang. It was Mansoor, admitting that he was in a tight spot and needed Anu to rush to Film City immediately. “The set was lovely, transporting me immediately to Goa. Mansoor told me he wanted to film a fight musically between the two gang leaders and as I looked on, the words, 'Sailaru Sailare Kya Bola Phir Bol Re' flashed through my mind and I started humming. Mansoor heard me and jumped excitedly, saying this was what he’d been wanting for six months. I was finalised on the spot,” narrates Anu, adding that lyricist Sameer came up with a prelude to his hookline, 'Hum Bhi Hain Josh Mein, Baatein Kar Hosh Mein, Yun Na Aankhen Dikha' and they were ready to record with Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan. “Both are brilliant singers, but they were not getting the vibe right, singing too romantically, so I turned to Kay Kay and Shaan, before finally settling for Nagoor Babu aka Mano, with whom, I had done a show and rapper/singer and composer Suresh Peters. To date, I perform this song on public demand.”

Anu also made a playback singer of a reluctant Shah Rukh. Lyricist Nitin Raikwar had penned a catchy mukhda, “Apun Bola Tu Meri Laila, Woh Boli, Phekta Hai Saala”. Anu hummed it for Mansoor, who loved it and wondered if they could get Shah Rukh to sing it with the swagger it needed. Anu was confident he could, but never having sung before, the actor flat-out refused to do it. Anu sat him down and sang the mukhda and antara for him, pointing out that he only had to croon it conversationally.

Once he agreed to give it a try, Shah Rukh was totally committed, writing the words down, rehearsing the song on other shoots and with Anu whenever he could squeeze out the time. “By the time we went for recording, he was pitch perfect. He got it right the first time, giving the song so much love and life. But Shah Rukh being Shah Rukh, insisted on another take. I, however, went with the first one,” reminisces Anu.

The album had other beauties, like “Hum To Dil Se Haare”, “Mere Khayalon Ki Malika” and “Haye Mera Dil Churake Le Gayi”, the latter; a hat tip to Aishwarya’s ethereal beauty. Ratan ji recalls shooting “Haye Mera Dil” with Aishwarya and Chandrachur on a tiny island in Mauritius. By the time they packed up, it was low tide and the boat couldn’t come in. “We were told we’d be picked up only the next morning. Unwilling to spend the night on a dark island, at around 7 pm, many of us, including Aishwarya and Chandrachur, decided to walk back to the main shore. At times, the water reached up to our necks, but we waded through that 2 km of sea to reach the beach around 8 pm. That’s the kind of josh Josh inspired,” Ratan ji concludes with a laugh.