Kajra Re ()[ Lyrics to "Kajrare" from bollywhat.com] is a song composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, written by Gulzar and sung by the Alisha Chinai, Shankar Mahadevan and Javed Ali. It is from the 2005 film Bunty Aur Babli, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji. Aishwarya Rai plays a courtesan trying to express her desires to attract the male, or her client.
Production and development
Kajra Re is inspired from a folk song from the
Braj region, in which the celebrated dark eyes are
Krishna's. The words "
Tujhse milna Purani Dilli mein..." ("
...meet you in Old Delhi") have been rendered by Amitabh Bachchan. It was a very famous "
item number" from the movie
Bunty Aur Babli. Uncommon to other "item numbers", the music was influenced by the genre of
kajari.
The trio have used
sitar to make it sound more Indian. Amitabh Bachchan, after initially hearing the song, demanded a few changes, but the director,
Shaad Ali, and producer,
Aditya Chopra, convinced him against them.
The song was composed in half a day. Alisha was chosen for the female vocals since her anglicized accent was meant to provide an essentially different intonation.
Reception and impact
The melody of this song was used as the main method to promote the film and the soundtrack.
The song became extremely popular among the masses
and was hugely successful on Indian music charts.
The
Hindustan Times described it as "the reinvention of the qawwali by Shankar-Ehsaan-Roy and Gulzar" and called it "the
Item song of the decade."
featured on top in
Rediffs 2005's list of top 5 songs.
It was voted as the song of the year by three radio stations, including Lotus FM, a station popular among the Indian diaspora in South Africa.
Music video
Before the song sequence, Amitabh Bachchan, playing a cop in the movie, relates his story of unrequited love in the city of
Delhi to Abhishek Bachchan (his real-life son who plays a criminal pursued by the cop), which is later alluded to in the song. Aishwarya Rai's character, a bar girl, sympathizes with Amitabh's character and plays courtesan. The dance, choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant, features Aishwarya in a
brocade choli and dipped
Lehenga, kohl, and some
lip gloss.
Awards
Alisha Chinai won the 2005 Filmfare Best Female Playback Award, 2005
MTV Immies for the "Best Female Singer" and the 2005 Bollywood Movie Award - Best Playback Singer Female for the song, while
Gulzar collected the best lyricist award in almost all major award functions including the IIFA and Filmfare Awards, for the song. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the award for the "Best Performance In A Song - Female" at the 2005
MTV Immies.
Vaibhavi Merchant won the following awards:
-
IIFA Best Choreography Award
-
Zee Best Choreography Award
-
Star Screen Awards - Best Choreography
-
Apsara Best Choreography Award
