Imtiaz Ali shared how music director AR Rahman and lyricist Irshad Kamil composed the popular ‘Vida Karo’ song in candlelight at 2.30 am in the studio.
Besides Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra’s impressive performances, Imtiaz Ali’s recent release, Amar Singh Chamkila also left the audience in awe with its brilliant music album that has lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil and tunes by AR Rahman.
One of the most popular tracks from this film is the heartbreaking ‘Vida Karo’ song sung by Arijit Singh. The track inspired by a poem of Shiv Kumar Batalvi, has Dijit Dosanjh‘s character Amar Singh Chamkila accepting his fate while pointing out the bias.
In a recent interview with Radio Nasha, director Imtiaz Ali revealed the process behind this poignant number.
The ‘Jab We Met’ director shared, “Rahman (AR Rahman) came and sat at his piano at 2:30 am when I and Irshad Kamil were getting ready to leave his studio. He said to switch off the lights and asked for some candles to be lit so that we enjoy the process. He started playing the tune while we spoke about old Hindi film songs. Rahman was talking about music in Guru Dutt films. I was simply enjoying the music as an audience.”
Ali shared that Irshad Kamil came up with the lyrics within 45 minutes and continued, “Irshad sat down and wrote the lines within 45 minutes. Rahman said let’s sit down and compose the song right now. While it was happening, some people started crying in the studio. Rahman joked ‘what have you done Irshad Kamil, you are making people cry.”
Further, Imtiaz Ali also revealed that it was AR Rahman who came up with the suggestion of choosing Arijit Singh to sing ‘Vida Karo’.
Elaborating on it, he explained, “When a composer sings their song, there is a gravitas and attachment to it. Sometimes you need a singer who can sing the melody with the same attachment. Arijit brings that to the music — he sings truthfully and without milawat.”
Ali added, “I also enjoy that he sings the whole song. He doesn’t sing one line to bring it in ‘sur’. In this era when people say you can auto tune or get AI to sing the song, he sings truthfully.”
Amar Singh Chamkila is currently streaming on Netflix.
