EXCLUSIVE: ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ happened unplanned; “Rhea Kapoor had called us for ‘Dar Ba Dar’,” reveals composer duo Akshay & IP

Akshay & IP have also reimagined 'Sona Kitna Sona Hai' for Crew.

By Keyur Seta -

March 21, 2024 - 4:14 PM IST

Filmmaker Rajesh Krishnan's Crew succeeded in creating the right noise through its teaser and trailer earlier this month. The excitement for the film has now grown further with the release of the much hyped ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ song. It's the reimagination of the iconic song ‘Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai’ from Subhash Ghai’s Khal Nayak (1993) and it was picturized on Madhuri Dixit Nene and Neena Gupta.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ happened unplanned; “Rhea Kapoor had called us for ‘Dar Ba Dar’,” reveals composer duo Akshay & IP

In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, composers of the song Akshay Raheja and IP Singh, popularly known as Akshay & IP, said that the idea to recreate this song for the movie happened unplanned. The duo had gone to discuss another song from the film called ‘Dar Ba Dar’ with producer Rhea Kapoor when ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ happened.

Akshay said, “That song (‘Dar Ba Dar’) was with Rhea (producer Rhea Kapoor) for a while now; since before the time of COVID. She has been listening to it, but it wasn’t fitting anywhere. She found the right moment for that song in this film. So, she had actually contacted us for that. She said that let’s meet and figure where can we fit that in the film and let’s finish that song.”

He added, “When we went to meet her, she also told us to see the film; whatever was there at that time. When we saw that, we figured that there is space for more music in the film. So that’s how we first locked ‘Sona Kitna Sona Hai.’ Then ‘Choli’ happened.”

When asked about the brief given to them, IP said, “Why I can’t exactly tell you the brief is because it’s a part of a scene. So, the idea was to make the song as per that scene. The song turned out to be so good that it has kind of become the theme of the film. It’s used in the BGM and the teaser was entirely cut on this song.”

The original song from Khal Nayak is a cult classic and is still popular. Considering this, were they extra cautious or nervous? “Honestly, that was the last thought,” said IP. “It is such an exciting song that we have to be exceptionally ill-skilled to make something bad out of it (laughs). Our aim was to retain the beauty of the song any way and try to express our style in it. That’s why we have mixed Punjabi in ‘Choli’. No one would have thought that Punjabi would go with this track. So, we tried to create it as something new, which is a fusion of the original song and what we want to express. That’s why it’s a reimagination. It’s not a remix. It suits the film, respects the legacy of the film express what we want to.”

Akshay is all praise for Rhea Kapoor for the freedom given to them. “We were given a free hand. It never occurred to us ki log kya sochenge. Also, like you said, there is pressure also. I was sitting with Rhea, and I suggested her some ideas because of this. But she said no because she said that she has contacted us for our own sound and said that we should stick to that,” he said.

Starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon, Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma, Crew is all set to release in theatres on March 29.

Also Read: Crew song ‘Choli’ out: Diljit Dosanjh gives a twist to Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun’s classic track, watch