By Subhash K Jha
Everyone who’s someone in the film industry knows Sanjay Dutt loves to sing. He did so in the two Sanjays’- Chhel and Gupta’s Khubsoorat and Zinda, and he even sang with Asha Bhosle in her album.
But a song in the somewhat delayed Aladdin was just not on the anvil.
So how did the over-committed Dutt end up not only singing, but also acting for the song last week?
Simple! Director Sujoy Ghosh made Sanjay an offer he couldn’t resist.
Says Sujoy, “Dutt Saab- that’s what I call him after his dad’s demise- sang the track “Maya’ for my film Home Delivery, though he wasn’t a part of the cast. For Aladdin my music composer Vishal created a song “Giri giri re bijuriya’, which was supposed to be the signature theme for Dutt Saab’s character named Ringmaster.”
The character is apparently a blend of rogue and angel, with a touch of the supernatural.
Before they could think of a suitable singer for Dutt, the actor himself was hooked to the beat.
Says Sujoy, “Though he didn’t know it, we always intended to get him to sing it. No one else could have. And I was overjoyed when Dutt Saab agreed. It is a very cool song. And he’s done justice to it.”
Once the song was recorded, Sujoy convinced Dutt that they must shoot for it. “Why let it goes to waste? I convinced Dutt Saab to act in the song. It was too good a song not to shoot, it would’ve amounted to criminal wastage of good pop art.”
Now Sujoy is in a dilemma about putting the Sanjay Dutt item into the film. “Aladdin is already complete. I can’t find a place for it! But the way my choreographers Bosco-Caesar have shot the song, it’s too cool to be used only as a promotional video. They’ve chorus dancers somersaulting in the air, foreigner- dancers doing flips…it’s a dream come true for me as a director, how can I leave audiences out of it.”
Sujoy now intends to slip the song into the film. “I can’t let it go to waste by using it only as a promotional film. Even if I did, my producers would never allow it.”
Sujoy plans to either incorporate the Dutt song in the plot, or use it in the end titles.
-Sampurn Media