Rahman's Oscar tune originally for another film

Mumbai, Jan 10 (IANS) A.R. Rahman's Hindi song from "Slumdog Millionaire" is a now a hot favourite at the Oscars. What is not so well known is that the song, "Aaja aaja shamiane ke taley", was originally written for another movie.

Song writer Gulzar had written the song for Subhash Ghai's latest release "Yuvvraaj".

"I wrote a song 'Aaja aaja shmiane ke taley/Zari wale neele aasman ke taley' for Subhash Ghai's 'Yuvvraaj'. But then for some reason Subhash felt he didn't need that song in the film," Gulzar said.

"So Rahman suggested that we use the track in 'Slumdog Millionaire' because it fits perfectly. We asked Subhash and he readily agreed. I must say it was very generous of him."

The number has now entered the Best Song category at the Academy Awards. It also fetched the Los Angeles Critics Choice Award for best score and has been nominated for the New York Critics Choice Award.

Brushing off the praise from Gulzar for allowing the song to be in another film, Ghai said: "Nothing generous about it. Give and take is an integral part of any creative field.

"Look at M.F. Husain Saab's generosity. He called me up all the way from Dubai to say he loved 'Yuvvraaj'. After the battering that it got his words came as balm to my soul, specially when Husain Saab said he saw the film twice and liked it even better the second time.

"I happily gave the 'Aaja aaja...' song to Rahman when he said it was needed for Danny Boyle's film. I felt the song was slightly too soft and subtle for the aggressive character (Zayed Khan in 'Yuvvraaj'). I'm glad they could use it."

Any regrets, now that the song is going places?

"None at all. Every film and every song has its own destiny. That song was meant to be in 'Slumdog Millionaire'. I'm just happy that a Hindi song is being noticed, heard and hummed in the US by non-NRI audiences," Ghai said.

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