Vishal-Shekhar Reveal Their Top 6 Favourite Songs Of All Time And The Stories Behind Their Making

Bollywood's most beloved music composers Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani have a 100% success rate. The duo came to share their top 5 favourite compositions of their career at the 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival Movie Mela and ended up revealing 6 of their best songs to the audience with the stories behind their conception. Here are their own top 6 songs that Vishal and Shekhar love! 

1. Tu Aashiqui Hai - Jhankar Beats 

Vishal Shekhar revealed that they blame Rajeev Masand for the music of Jhankaar Beats. They took four years to compose this music and it was a tribute to RD Burman. They also told the audience that the song Suno Na from the same movie was composed at the Marble Arts Studio in Mumbai which is beside a graveyeard which made it kind of spooky.

The brief of Tu Aashiqui Hai was a hymn song which was a love song. However, the funny bit is that, the claps in the song didn’t make it to the tape during the shoot and Sujoy Ghosh lost his cool on Vishal who had to finally mix them back and deliver the tape to him on set.

Vishal also joked how people around there must have been 3 years old when this movie came out and how he feels Shekhar doesn’t age at all. He said, “At least on me it shows. It’s even worse having a partner on whom age doesn’t show. Aap toh apke uncle ke saath kaam karte ho (referring to Shekhar).”

2. Allah Ke Bande - Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II 

Little do people know that it was Rabbi Shergill not Kailash who was first supposed to record the song? On music composer Salim Merchant’s recommendation they took Kailash on board and he was so good that they only kept it acoustic with his voice. Vishal and Shekhar have received numerous letters of appreciation for this song from around the world. 

3. Ajab Si - Om Shanti Om 

This song was actually written after the movie was almost complete. It perfectly went with the scene where Shanti meets Om for the first time. Farah Khan locked it at once when she heard it. She wanted it to be yet another tribute to Pancham Da since the era in the movie was also of that time. Vishal and Shekhar’s original lyrics were as follows, which were later corrected by Javed Akhtar.

(in the tune of ‘Ajab Si')
Tu chand pe toh
Zameen pe mein rehta hoon
Kaise main karoon yakeen se tumse mila hoon
Mujhe lagta hain asmaan mein utna ooncha udta hoon

4. Chhammak Chhallo - Ra One 

Bringing Akon on board was a fluke! Vishal and Shekhar casually told Anubhav Sinha to bring on Akon for Criminal, and SRK fixed an appointment with him one week later which shocked the duo. He quickly learned the lyrics and completed the song in a day.

5. Nashe Si Chadh Gayi - Befikre

Vishal and Shekhar had never made it to the fourth floor of Yash Raj Studios where Aditya Chopra sits. He called them one day to ask if they would be interested in composing for him. He asked, “Karoge kya?” and they both jumped with joy! He gave them the next 15 days to compose after he narrated them the script of Befikre. Adi inserted songs in the movie after they got composed. The script had no songs. Vishal and Shekhar call it the best experience of their lives. Adi had the hook Nashe Si Chadh Gayi which he sang to them and that’s how they developed it further when lyricist Jaideep Sahni wrote them. Nashe Si Chadh Gayi has crossed 300 Million views on YouTube to become the most streamed Bollywood song ever. 

6. Sheila Ki Jawaani - Tees Maar Khan

Do you know? Beggars come up to them at signals and speak about this song! They used 40 Nashik Dhols for this and the chorus is actually their voice that they used and altered with technology even for the female part. Vishal also features in this song as a sleazy director. 

Which one is your favourite?