By Simi Sehgal
Katrina Kaif in CHIKNI CHAMELI
Agneepath revolves around Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan) walking on the path of fire in his journey of revenge against Kancha (Sanjay Dutt). Priyanka Chopra plays the female lead of Vijay’s aide and best friend Kaali while Rishi Kapoor plays city gang lord Rauf Lala.
Directed by Karan Malhotra, and produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar, the film also features Om Puri, and Katrina Kaif makes a special appearance.
Awaaz News talked to Ajay-Atul, composers of the smash hit Chikni Chameli which has taken the Bollywood world by storm…
Let’s talk ‘Chikni Chameli: the song is actually your hit song ‘Kombdi Palali’ from the Marathi film Jatra translated for this film. How did that all come about?
This thought totally came from our producer Karan Johar and Karan Malhotra. We were composing another song for Agneepath, but the pace and tempo of this song is so high and the point at which this song comes in the movie is after interval and the story needs that fast pace. This song perfectly matches with the screenplay and storyboard at that point. So they came up with the idea that we’ll use one of your already super duper hit songs. We were very happy that our original song was going on an international platform. It’s a next step for our Marathi film industry.
How did you feel when you saw your music come live on screen?
Yes, yes. Even now we are doing the background score for the film and it is looking awesome on screen. I am basically overwhelmed because the people are appreciating all the songs. The first song we composed was ‘Deva Shree Ganesha’. ‘Chikni Chameli’, the item song in Agneepath is so huge and popular. People are appreciating the other 5 songs also and it’s looking awesome on screen.
Please tell us about the music album, was there scope for music in this action
“Normally in action films, you don’t get many situations where you can add songs. If you see action films, where’s the scope for music? Even the original ‘Agneepath’ had three or four songs, Our album has six songs, and we have tried to maintain a good variety with one intense Ganpati song, one qawwali, one romantic number, another song capturing the emotions of a brother and sister… We wanted to give this album our best because it is very special for us.
When you first saw Katrina in the song, what were your first thoughts?
We were like ohhhfff…(Laughs) The energy that she has given for this song. I know the back-story of this song: she was rehearsing for eight days and the shooting went on for nine days and she was dancing continually. If you listen to that song, any artist and even if I was dancing to it, would get tired in just two minutes, but it’s a 5-6 minute song. She has taken it to another level. She’s awesome. She’s fabulous.
How is the reaction from fans?
We are really happy. The reaction from our Bollywood celebrities has also been really good. They like the songs too. And I think it’s really good and we are really happy with whatever ‘Chikni Chameli’ is creating.
Agneepath releases worldwide on January 26th, 2012
