Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is on his visit to India after four-and-a-half years and is excited about singing a song for Salman's production
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 11, 2015)


After four-and-a-half years, a "very happy" Rahat Fateh Ali Khan returned to India for a flying visit.

The Pakistani Sufi singer and nephew of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, was arrested on February 13, 2011, at the Delhi airport for forex violation. He admits that was a mistake he won't repeat.

Right now, he's gung-ho about an absolutely original song he's recorded for Salman Khan's production, Hero, Yaada teri yaad. "I did the vocal dub in Pakistan and they did the mastering here. I watched the original Hero as a child. Now, Aditya Pancholi's son Sooraj and Suniel Shetty's daughter Athiya step into Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Sheshadri's roles. It's a pleasure to sing for them and Khan saab. Woh sab ke hero hain so your songs become popular," reasons Rahat, admitting he's yet to see Salman's latest film, Bajrangi Bhaijaan. "My family members have seen it but tickets are available only for the 1.30 am show by which time I'm asleep. But by the time I return in September, I'd have seen it for sure," he promises.

He's had a hit himself in Zaroori tha from Hamari Adhuri Kahani and points out that he has always had "achche talukaat" with Mahesh Bhatt. What did he think of Alia Bhatt's rendition of his popular Mein tenu samjhawan in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania? "Alia sang the song her way. For an actress, woh lagbhag achcha gayi hain, she did a decent job," he quips.

He's gearing up to release a new album by the year-end. "It has 35 per cent songs in Punjabi, 35 per cent in Hindi and the remaining 30 per cent explores a new musical genre," says Rahat. "Music requires a lot of attention and concentration."

His personal life too has got a lot of attention after stories of him divorcing his wife Nida and marrying model Falak started making the rounds, along with pictures of the nikaah. "I too want to see these pictures of my doosri nikaah," he laughs, insisting the rumours were spread by jealous rivals back home. "My wife adores me, I love my family, why would I want to marry anyone else?"

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 10, 2014)

Sachin-Jigar had already recorded three songs for the upcoming Varun Dhawan-Alia Bhatt starrer Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania when composer duo, Sharib-Toshi, were approached to work on two more numbers, a party track (Saturday, Saturday) and a soulful love song.

While filming in Chandigarh, director Shashank Khaitan heard a song rendered by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Main Tenu Samjhawan Ki for a Punjabi film Virsa. It had crossed over from Pakistan and had caught Shashank's imagination. "So even though I told him we could give him original songs, he insisted we rework Rahat saab's love song," Toshi recalls.

The film's producer, Karan Johar, was equally excited about the song and officially bought the rights. And now the brothers had the unenviable responsibility of tweaking a popular hit, sung and composed by the respected Ustad, into something new. Usually, they worked on separate songs or one would take on the mukhda and the other an antara but this was a collaboration as the challenge facing them was huge. "The original, bahut hi pyaari composition hai and when you do chedkhani with such a song you risk offending so many people," points out Sharib.

The brief was simple: Make it a more youthful, contemporary and commercial track which will connect instantly with Varun and Alia's huge fan base and at the same time appeal to people of all age groups. It turned out to be a tall order and for a couple of days they worked to add an international flavour, with a touch of jazz and Spanish Flamengo, to the Punjabi number.

Once he heard the reworked track Toshi was keen to sing it and even recorded the scratch. But then he agreed with his brother that Arjit Singh's voice was more suited for it. "We may be singers who have got our grounding in music from our walid saab but we are not greedy. At the end of the day we have the song's interests at heart," says Sharib.

The female voice is Shreya Ghoshal and Toshi, a self-confessed fan, admits that after hearing her sing Samjhawan, he has grown to like her voice even more. "I had an eye on the clock and I can tell you that it took Arijit just 16 minutes to record his version while Shreya finished hers in 17-18 minutes. In half an hour we were done!" he marvels.

What was even more unbelievable was that Alia, who is not a professional singer, recorded her version in just 25 minutes, with several takes for the composer duo to choose from. The actress admits that she was taken by surprise when approached but there were no traces of nervousness. "I'd been humming the original song by Rahat saab and loved the Arijit-Shreya duet. But I didn't try to ape them or try to match up, knowing that was impossible," she reasons. "My Samjhawan is a random, unplugged version. It is personal and relatable, anyone listening to it will feel they can croon too."

The brothers had let the 'cute little girl' sing because her father (Mahesh Bhatt) and uncle (Mukesh Bhatt) had a great music sense and have delivered some of the biggest chartbusters. "They are my godfathers, they gave me my Bollywood break, Mahi Aaja re (Raaz: The Mystery Continues). I'd seen Alia, who was in school then, when I dropped by at her home to meet Bhattsaab. When Shashank suggested we do Samjhawan with her, I agreed because's she's from that family but I was a little apprehensive. How could a non-singer pull off this challenging song?" recalls Toshi. To his shock and amazement, Alia turned out to be a natural singer who gave the song another dimension.

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is Toshi's 12th film as a music director and comes after a half century of hits. But this is the first song to have entered his list of favourites, which include classics like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Tumhe Dillagi Bhool Jaani Padegi, RD Burman's Saawan Ke Jhoole Pade (Jurmana), Mohd. Rafi's Likhe Jo Khat Tujhe (Kanyadaan) and Din Dhal Jaaye Haye (Guide), and Kishore Kumar's Muskurahat. "Samjhawan, which comes in at No.6 on the Top 10 list, has got us an outpouring of calls and messages on Facebook and Twitter even from Pakistan. So far there hasn't been any criticism," he says with a sigh of relief.

Sharib adds, "We went on to score a third song for the film, Emotional Fool, which is an original composition that Toshi has sung. Karan sir is very happy and we can only hope that he'll return to us, and other big banners will come to us too."

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 30, 2014)

The music of their last outing together made it to the list of chartbusters (Remember Ishq wala love and Disco Deewane?) and Karan Johar is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a similar fate for the music of his upcoming film, the Varun Dhawan-Alia Bhatt starrer, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania.

Mirror has learnt that Karan has bought the rights of the hit Pakistani number, Main Tenu Samjhawan Ki, which was originally sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. However, KJo has roped in Arijit Singh, who has made a name for himself in the industry with songs like Tum Hi Ho, Phir Le Aaya Dil and the more recent Muskurane Ki Wajah Tum Ho, to croon the track.

Revealed a source from Dharma Productions, "Karan has closely monitored the music of the film. He sat through almost every recording. Mein Tenu Samjhawan Ki is a soulful romantic song and comes at a very crucial point in the film. In fact, Karan has also been instrumental in the styling of the song."

Asked why Arijit was chosen to redo a Rahat original, the source said that Karan was extremely pleased by his work in the Mast Magan song from 2 States and felt he would be the right choice.

Karan Johar didn't reply to our texts.