On August 6, the Subhash Ghai-directed film ‘Khalnayak’ celebrated its 30 years. The director recently opened up about how he was shocked when the iconic song ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ was labeled vulgar.Choli Ke Peeche’ was originally conceived as a folk song and the brouhaha over its lyrics was shocking, says filmmaker Subhash Ghai as he remembered his 1993 film ‘Khal Nayak’, which turned 30 on Sunday.
It was a trademark Subhash Ghai movie — full of entertainment, elaborate musical pieces, and a star-studded cast with Sanjay Dutt as the anti-hero Ballu, Jackie Shroff as police officer Ram and Madhuri Dixit as undercover police officer Ganga. The film remembered as one of the biggest hits of the 1990s, has attained cult status over the years.
My closest memory of ‘Khalnayak’ is when people labeled ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ as vulgar. It was a tragedy for me… a major shock. We treated it as a folk song and presented it in an artistic way. But when the film was released, there were protests,” Ghai told PTI in an interview here.
Choli Ke Peeche’, penned by celebrated lyricist Anand Bakshi, was composed by veteran music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Singer Alka Yagnik did the playback for Dixit, while Ila Arun sang the folk version filmed by Neena Gupta.
I remember a leading newspaper wrote… ‘The song is a classical piece of Indian cinema’ and that was a relief. It was a folk song and now people understand that,” the 78-year-old director added.
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