We had reported a few days back how a few religious groups had taken objection to the lyrics of the Mata Ka Email song from the upcoming entertainer Guddu Rangeela, starring Arshad Warsi and Amit Sadh, threatening the filmmakers to remove the song from the film or face dire consequences including disruption of shows. In an innovative marketing twist to this controversy, we have now learnt that the makers have announced a digital contest asking the audiences to pose with their Guddu Rangeela movie ticket to win a chance to visit the Mata Vaishno Devi temple with their family. Well, this certainly seems to be a first. We will wait to see the result of this marketing idea this Friday when the film hits the theatres.

Subhash Kapoor's Guddu Rangeela is a fun film about two bumbling small-time crooks, played by Amit Sadh and Arshad Warsi, who are playing characters of Guddu and Rangeela, respectively. In the film, Guddu and Rangeela are two small-time orchestra singers based in Haryana, who sing a song 'Mata Ka Email' that has the following lyrics -'Kal Raat Mata Ka Mujhe Email Aaya Hai, Mata Ne Mujhko Facebook Pe Bulaya Hai'. We have learnt that this song has allegedly upset the sentiments of a few religious organisations across North and West parts of the country. As a result, the makers have received several emails and threatening calls asking them to remove this song from the film. The makers have been threatened that if they don't remove the song, they would risk facing dire consequences, including disruptions at the theatres. Recently in Ludhiana, there were demonstrations held demanding a ban to be put on the film and posters of the film were put on fire.

This is not the first time that films made have been threatened by groups of people who consider themselves the custodians of part of society. We have seen it happening for films like Oh My God and PK earlier and now, the same is beginning to happen for Guddu Rangeela. Talking to us about the threats, director of the film Subhash Kapoor said, “Guddu Rangeela is not a religious film. It's a masala entertainer with a message. There is nothing in the film that can hurt anybody's religious sentiments. The film is certified by the Censor Board and I request people to see the film when it releases on July 3 and then come to their own conclusions.“

We endorse Subhash Kapoor's view that post the Censor Board clearing a film, individuals and bodies should not be allowed to disrupt the release of a film, till they have seen the film and find anything truly objectionable, otherwise it puts the filmmakers through unwarranted and unpredictable risk without them having any control on it. The Censor Board should be considered the final custodian of judging what is good or bad for the viewers in India.

Since his protagonists, Guddu and Rangeela, run a small orchestra and per form in villages, producer director-writer Subhash Kapoor, while penning the script, had decided he wanted two-three party songs besides the album tracks composed by Amit Trivedi and written by Irshad Kamil.There's a Himachal folk song which plays in the film and one which was recorded but left out on the editing table. And then there is Mata ka email aaya hai, Facebook pe bulaya hai.

Its muse is a Narendra Chanchal devotional song, Maa ne telephone kiya hai, which the then 14-year-old Subhash remembers his mother playing everyday. The song was a rage and was played at the mata ki chaukis which, living in Delhi, he attended almost every weekend.

“I still remember the phone ringing, Chanchal asking who was calling and his Maaaaaa that follows. Those were the landline days when most of us had PP (Padosi Phone) numbers. I thought that if Chanchal could bring the telephone into a bhakti song and make it acceptable, then keeping advances in technology in mind, why couldn't I bring in email, Facebook and websites given that we are living in the age of social media,“ reasons Subhash who, once he'd found his hook, wrote the quirky lyrics in 10 minutes flat.

He wanted something unusual but not too far removed from his film's social milieu. Mata ka email aaya hai helped him establish the milieu and his two principal characters right away. It set also the tone and mood of the film.

The next step was finding the right voice. Since the film is set in Haryana and he was trying to be honest to the setting and lingo, he knew he needed a local singer and set off for Rohtak. A friend helped set up auditions for 10-12 local folk singers. “They were all fantastic but were in their 50s and 60s and I was looking for a slightly younger voice since Arshad Warsi would be lip-syncing to it,“ he points out.

Towards the end of the auditions, a man of around 35 years old walked in and asked to audition. Within two minutes of listening to Gajendra Phogat, Subhash knew he'd found his singer and called him to Delhi for the recording. “I asked him to bring his troupe from Rohtak along so even the accompanists including the dhol, banjo and harmonium players are local musicians. The programmer and arranger was a bright young lad called Aman Pant and without any fuss we were done with the song,“ he reminisces.

Subhash admits that he had no plans to include his first composition in the album. But everyone who heard it or saw it while they were picturising it told him he had to put it in the album. “Even Amit and Irshad had huge smiles on their faces after they listened to it,“ says Subhash.

After the trailer released, it's become the rage. Even Gajendra called him three days ago to inform him that he was getting a lot of offers for the Navratri season and all of them wanted him to sing Mata ka email aaya aaya hai. “I told him to increase his fees,“ Subhash chuckles.

The song has made Subhash Kapoor a popular lyricist and a composer. So has he started working on his next composition? “No way!“ he exclaims. “I'm a bad lyricist and composer. I'm not going to do this again. This one had no melody but for some reason, perhaps because of its quirky lyrics or ma's blessings, you can't ignore it.“