EXCLUSIVE: Salim Merchant talks about how Chak De! India title track has a ‘Jumma Chumma’ connection because of Aditya Chopra

Salim Merchant talks about how Chak De! India title track has a ‘Jumma Chumma’ connection because of Aditya Chopra in an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

November 15, 2022 - 5:00 PM IST

Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant are among India's finest musician duos. The duo composes music predominantly for Hindi films.

EXCLUSIVE: Salim Merchant talks about how Chak De! India title track has a ‘Jumma Chumma’ connection because of Aditya Chopra

Over the years, music composers Salim-Sulaiman have managed to be one of the most revered names in the realm of Hindi film music. From Chak De! India, Fashion to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Band Baaja Baaraat and much more, the Merchant brothers have come a long way creating smash hit music albums for numerous Bollywood films for over a decade now.

In an exclusive music room interview with Bollywood Hungama, while sharing the interesting behind-the-scene stories of how they created their chart-buster sports anthem Chak De! India, Salim talked about how the Chak De! India title track has a ‘Jumma Chumma’ connection because of the film’s producer Aditya Chopra.

“Whenever we create songs, we need to have a framework in mind,” Salim said. “So, when Aditya Chopra told us that this song needs to be big like Jumma Chumma, I didn’t understand then what he was trying to say. So, we sang Chak De India in the tune of Jumma Chumma and there... I got one thing. What we’ll do is we’ll repeat Chak De-Chak De India..”

He continued, “And then we got the framework. Now keeping that in mind, when Jaideep wrote the rest of the lyrics, I told him to repeat it [Kuch Kariye, Kuch Kariye, Nas Nas Meri Khaule Haye Kuch Kariye]. Just like Mar Jaava, Mar Jaava, Tere Ishq Mein Mar Jaava. And that how we set the rhythm.”

“And then Sulaiman was working on a beat, like he was working on a pattern that had a lot of energy and at the same time it wasn’t very fast,” Salim further shared. “It was more of a mid-tempo track so that the words could breathe,” Salim shared while also singing the song.

Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Chak De! India was directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Yash Raj Films. The film threw the spotlight on hockey as India’sport and became an instant craze. The film portrays Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), the coach of the Indian Women's National Hockey Team who dreams of making his all-girls team emerge victorious against all odds.