Mani Ratnam turned 66 on Thursday. With movies like Guru and Roja, among many others, Mani has become one of the most beloved directors of our time. His work in Hindi and Tamil cinema won him six National Film Awards. One of Mani’s most unforgettable films was the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dil Se. The 1998 film, which also starred Preity Zinta and Manisha Koirala, featured a number of songs. Chhaiya Chhaiya was one of the most iconic songs from Dil Se. In an old interview, lyricist Gulzar revealed how Shah Rukh ‘tricked’ Mani to let him dance to Chhaiya Chhaiya. Read more: Preity Zinta, Manisha Koirala, Malaika Arora share memories as Dil Se completes 20 years
In Mani Ratnam-directed Dil Se, Shah Rukh Khan played the role of Amarkanth Verma, a radio broadcaster who works for All India Radio. Shah Rukh fell in love with Manisha Koirala’s Meghna, while on an assignment in Northeast India. Making it a love triangle was Amar’s fiancé Preity, played by Preity Zinta.
Out of all the songs in Dil Se, Chhaiya Chhaiya remains one of its most spectacular, captured with the most amazing visuals possible. Composed by AR Rahman and penned by Gulzar, Chaiyya Chaiyya featured Shah Rukh and Malaika Arora dancing on the top of a moving train. Farah Khan won the Filmfare Award for best choreography for the song that year.
In an old interview, Gulzar revealed that Chaiyya Chaiyya was inspired by a Sufi song called Thaiyya Thaiyya by Bulleh Shah. He said when Shah Rukh heard the lyrics of the song, he didn’t want it to be performed by a group of fakirs in the background, as was planned earlier. The actor wanted to dance to Chaiyya Chaiyya himself. So, he ‘tricked’ Mani Ratnam by saying the song was a deep poem, and he wanted to perform on it.
“Mani asked me if it is very high poetry, and I said yes… And this is how SRK tricked Mani and fulfilled his wish of dancing to the tune of Chaiyya Chaiyya, which became a hit number,” Gulzar was quoted as saying in a 2017 Deccan Chronicle report.
Meanwhile, Mani Ratnam’s latest directorial effort, Ponniyin Selvan: Part One, arrives in theatres in September 2022.
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