Anu Malik recently recalled how lyricist Javed Akhtar objected to the use of ‘check that, like that’ in the popular qawwali song ‘Tumse Milke’.
Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na which released in 2004, emerged as a box office hit upon its release. The film is still remembered for its catchy songs. One of them is the popular qawwali number ‘Tumse Milke’ picturized on Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan and Amrita Rao.
In a recent interaction with ANI, Anu Malik who composed the music for this film, shared an interesting trivia about this hit song. He shared that Javed Akhtar who had written the qawwali for ‘Tumse Milke’ song objected to the inclusion of English words, ‘Check that, like that’ in that track.
During the making of the song, when Anu narrated the tune with these words, Javed Akhtar expressed his displeasure by telling him, “Yeh words koi qawwali mein hote hain?” and walked out.
However, it was the film’s director Farah Khan who finally convinced the noted lyricist by explaining to him that she wanted a funky qawwali for her film. She insisted that Javed Akhtar follows her brief like the music composer, as she wanted a “funky qawwali,” not a conventional one.
Anu told the news agency that the song turned out to be a template for every funky qawwali that was made since then. “Qawwali ka apna ek andaaz hota hai (Qawwali has its own style). Javed Saab wrote brilliantly. Him, me, Sonu and the qawwals, we all came together to make something memorable,” he was quoted as saying.
Main Hoon Na revolves around an army major who goes undercover as a student to protect his general’s daughter from a radical militant, and to find his estranged half-brother. Besides Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan and Amrita Rao, the movie also featured Suniel Shetty, Kirron Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Kabir Bedi, Boman Irani, Satish Shah and Bindu.