Happy birthday Big B: The stories behind songs he sang
Just like a dialogue from one of his films, the queue [of his admirers] begins right where Amitabh Bachchan stands in real life, too. The actor gained stardom as the angry young man and has since then tried out almost everything. And, this includes singing. As the megastar turns 79 today, let's take a look at the stories behind some of his songs.
During playback debut, Bachchan was convinced he couldn't do it
Big B debuted as a playback singer with Mere Paas Aao in the 1979 film Mr. Natwarlal. However, he was convinced he couldn't do it when he "was given the sudden news that I was to sing for the first time my own background song." Although the recording process was a "nightmare," the veteran star revealed, "eminent sound recordist Ghosh babu" had praised him.
He was deeply involved with the music of 'Silsila'
Another movie with Rekha, Silsila (1981) saw Bachchan get more actively involved with the music. The superhit track, Neela Aasman So Gaya sung by Bachchan, was actually based on a tune composed by Shammi Kapoor years ago during the shoot of Zameer. Kapoor had readily agreed when Big B sought his permission to use it. Also, he sang the evergreen Holi track, Rang Barse.
Singing 'Rabindra Sangeet for first time was the greatest revelation'
Moving up years, the actor utilized his baritone to the fullest to enliven a Bengali classic from Rabindranath Tagore, Ekla Cholo Re, for Kahaani (2012). On his blog, he had written, "May I just say that singing Rabindra Sangeet for the first time was the greatest revelation. The beauty of the language, the lyricism of the tune and its dhun [music] are outstanding (sic)."
'Wazir' saw the union of two actors with singing prowess
We often hear Bachchan deliver poetry in movies, the latest example being Chehre title track. Another example is Khel Khel Mein from Wazir. Talking of the 2016 thriller, it gave us a lovely friendship song, Atrangi Yaari, too, which was sung by Bachchan and co-star Farhan Akhtar. The song defines the "unique" friendship that Big B and Khan's characters have in the movie.
