Amitabh Bachchan refused to shoot iconic song Kajra Re with Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan due to..., later apologised to director Shaad Ali after...

Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai's iconic song Kajra Re, from the 2005 hit film Bunty Aur Babli, is still popular after over 20 years of its release. The collaboration of the three stars who would become a family just 2 years after the song's release, is considered to be a landmark moment in Indian film industry. However, many are unaware that initially, Amitabh Bachchan was unsure about featuring in the song and was also against it being shot. 

This revelation was made by Shaad Ali in a recent interview with SCREEN, "I knew when I heard an eight-second riff of it… that this is going to work wonders… But Yash Raj had given it the last number… ki yeh sabse kam popular hoga (that this will be the least popular one). Amit ji ne kaha tha ki yeh gaana shoot hi mat karo (Amit Ji said don’t even shoot this song)," he said. 

Director Shaad Ali was confident that the song would be a super hit, however, Amitabh Bachchan was adamant that it needed better creative input. "Maine jab unhe bulaya tha sunne ke liye… toh he said ki yeh nahi chalega (When I called him to listen to it, he said it won’t work)." 

Shaadi Ali further said, "He did all that jugalbandi in the song… all the portions from which it starts. I wanted him to sing that, but he said no and wanted Shankar Mahadevan to do it. Later, he was shooting a song for some film, maybe Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or something else, I don’t exactly remember, and said, ‘Yeh hota hai item song (This is what an item song should be).’ I was like, okay."

Despite the controversies around it, Kajra Re became a chart-topper, surpassing even Bunty Aur Babli's popularity, forcing Amitabh Bachchan to apologise to Shaadi Ali. "Tabhi Amit Ji ka mujhe message aaya ki, ‘I’m sorry, I second guessed it’ (That’s when Amit Ji messaged me saying, ‘I’m sorry, I second guessed it’). Kajra Re wouldn’t have been what it is without him (Amitabh Bachchan)," Shaad said.

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