14 Years Of Dhoom 2: Pritam Reveals The Title Of The Film Came From The ‘Dhoom Machale’ Track

India’s biggest production house, Yash Raj Films, gave India its biggest franchise of films with the Dhoom series. These adrenaline pumping, edge of the seat, anti-hero entertainers have been true visual spectacles. Dhoom films have set new benchmarks in every department of movie-making, as well as at the national and global box office. On the 14th anniversary of Dhoom: 2, Pritam, who had composed the music for the Dhoom series, opens up about how he composed Dhoom Machale, a track that has entertained generations of Indians.

“I remember that Dilbara was the first song to get locked for Dhoom and it was Ali’s (Uday Chopra) song, Sameer Saab (lyricist) came into the picture. At that time there was no name, Dhoom was not there. Dhoom Machale was one of the songs which was banked for Dhoom. I remember there was a meeting about the title of the film. We were all sitting and brainstorming and Adi came up with putting Dhoom Machale, Dhoom Machale, Dhoom in the melody of what we had. I have forgotten what the scratch lyrics were at that time. So, when Adi came up with Dhoom Machale, everyone immediately locked onto it and said this is the title of the film and the title song!” says Pritam.

Pritam admits that he did not expect Dhoom Machale to become such a rage among audiences. He says, “We never thought that Dhoom will become so big. I never thought, I was just hoping that it cuts through and becomes popular because it was important for me at that time. It’s always important for a song to become popular but at that time I was just hoping and praying. I remember the day Dhoom was releasing I was going to Shirdi and on the way I heard in 2 places – one was a car back horn with the Dhoom Machale tune and the other was somebody in Shirdi was singing it. Then I knew gaana toh popular hogaya. Dhoom was a great gig!”

Dhoom Machale had an English version sung by popular international artist Tata Young and that track topped charts and became an urban youth anthem. Pritam discloses, “Adi said let’s make an English version of Dhoom Machale! I don’t know why Adi said it. I thought it was not going to work in the beginning, and so, Tata Young came into the picture. I remember Tata was saying, ‘Doom’ machale, because the was no ‘Dh” in English and she was laughing, as we were trying to get DH out of her. I thought the English track was actually a great idea by Adi because it gave another dimension to Dhoom Machale. That song became extremely popular in Southeast Asia, China, and lot of other places.”

Pritam reveals that he was feeling overwhelmed to create Dhoom: 2’s music because the first film’s music went through the roof. He says, “When I started composing Dhoom: 2 music, I was feeling the pressure because Dhoom 1’s music was a huge success story. However, Adi asked us to not take any pressure, and just to go with the flow and script. We had to do a new version of Dhoom Machale, like a newer version. So, there is this idea which came, they wanted to use trash materials and make music out of it to give it a super cool vibe!”

Pritam adds, “I remember, while making the scratch of Dhoom Machale for Dhoom:2, I went to Four Bungalows (Mumbai suburb) and visited all the shops around Andheri and bought biscuit tins, different kinds of vessels which make sound, made a huge stock of cans, big flour cans and we created the track out of that sound. The Dhoom theme was made out of car honks and Dhoom: 2’s entire percussion was made out of trash cans! It was crazy, fun and again Adi wanted to keep it in English. Suggestion to make Vishal sing came from Adi only, then we had the girl version for the end title. My favourite song from Dhoom 2 will be Crazy Kiya Re, I really enjoyed the process of Crazy Kiya Re.”