Actor Urmila Matondkar has opened up about one of the most memorable songs of her career, ‘Chamma Chamma’, revealing that she had initially refused to be a part of the chartbuster because of the perception surrounding item songs at the time. The actress shared the story while appearing as a special guest on the upcoming episode of India’s Best Dancer Season 5, where she revisited the making of the iconic track from the 1998 film China Gate.
Recalling how the offer came to her, Urmila said, “I was told that Rajkumar Santoshi ji, the great director of the film China Gate, wanted me to do a guest appearance item song in the film. But I was completely not in favour of it because, at that time, item songs were looked at in a very negative way.”
She further explained that filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi eventually changed her perspective by sharing his vision for the song. According to Urmila, the director told her, “He told me something, ‘Urmila, there was a song that came out years ago, and whenever people talk about dance and choreography. This is one song that immediately comes to their mind. I want to create a song that is better than that one”
Urmila also revealed an interesting behind-the-scenes detail about the song’s filming schedule. She said, I asked Ganesh (Acharya) master ji how many days this song would take to shoot, and he said, “The plan was for twelve (12) days, but we ended up shooting the entire song in just three days.”
Actor Karisma Kapoor, who serves as a judge on the dance reality show, also recalled the impact ‘Chamma Chamma’ had upon its release. Praising Urmila’s performance, she said, “Woh time pe I remember when this song had come out, I complimented him and told him like what a song, amazing, and Urmila has done so well.”
Over the years, ‘Chamma Chamma’ has remained one of Bollywood’s most iconic dance tracks, and Urmila’s latest revelation offers fans a fresh perspective on the journey behind a song that almost never happened with her.
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