Singer Sukhwinder Singh opened up about the making of the iconic song Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire which won the Oscar in 2009, in the Best Original Song category. Penned by Gulzar and Tanvi, the song was composed and sung by AR Rahman, Sukhwinder Singh, Mahalakshmi lyer, and Vijay Prakash. Recently in an interview filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma claimed that the song was composed by Sukhwinder Singh whose powerful voice graced the song and finally gave his response to the comment. In an interview with Times Entertainment Singh unveiled the true story behind its making process. Let’s check out the complete details of this story.
Sukhwinder Singh denied the claim of co-composing with Jai Ho
He said of the director’s claim, “I have also received the video of Ram Gopal Varma ji. I don’t know anything at all about what he is saying.”
Explaining how the song is recorded, Sukhwinder says, “AR Rahman presented the first draft of Jai Ho to Subhash Ghai. I felt there was little to say in this song. However, Subhash Ghaiji said that the character in his film is a tapori and the song is too decent for that, so it won’t work. He wanted a tapori type of song, so he told Rahman saab to compose another song and he agreed to do it after a while.”
Sukhwinder adds, “When they took the decision to compose another song, Subhash Ghaiji and Rahman Saab sat in their car, and went away. This song has to be made again. Then I said that ‘Zari wale neele aasman ke tale’ is something special. As much as I have experienced music, I can say that I’ve never heard a line like this.”
He continues of the incident, “Only a few people were left in the studio, Gulzar saab, a few of the musicians, recordists and me. There was a slight sadness on everyone’s face wondering what had happened. I wondered what would happen if I sang this Jai Ho. So quickly I took a decision and told everyone, ‘Come on, let’s sing this song’. But Gulzar Saab said, “What song has to be done now?” Then I said that ‘Zari wale neele aasman ke tale’ is something special. No matter how much I have experienced music, I can say that I’ve never heard a line like this.”
The singer noted, “It is so beautifully written, go through it at least once. So, Gulzar saab told, “If you really want to sing this song, go ahead.”
Sukhwinder also recalled how he started dancing while recording the song, which eventually was selected by Danny Boyle for his Oscar-winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire.
“I had the music already, and so I told my recordist to put up three microphones and he was surprised. Then I sang Jai Ho in the three different mics. I was literally dancing from one mic to the other when I was singing the song and quickly the recording was done. Gulzar Saab kissed me on the forehead. I asked, anything special? He said, ‘I don’t know why I love music. You love music!’ After the meeting ended, I gave a CD of that recording to Gulzar saab and I sent one to Rahman saab.,” he shared.
“He told me, ‘Hello Hollywood singer’. I asked, “Hollywood?”. Rahman said, ‘The song you sang, Jai Ho, has been selected by a Hollywood director’. This was the song that was almost rejected. I just don’t know anything beyond this. I have conquered, not composed. No one knows the truth better than me,” Sukhwinder recalled.
