"Nobody has approached me, I don’t know what their plans are", says Bappi Lahiri about the Namak Halaal remake

The news that producer Murad Khetani has bought the remake rights of one of Amitabh Bachchan’s biggest blockbusters Namak Halaal triggered off a chain of speculative reactions in the media. The tireless Bappi Lahiri whose music went a long way in making the film such a historic success wonders if the producer intends to use the original music.

“Nobody has approached me. So I don’t know what their plans are. But the music that I did for Namak Halaal is remembered and hummed to this day. One cannot imagine Namak Halaal without ‘Pug Ghungroo’. It was shot by Prakash Mehraji in a 11-minute sequence, the longest song sequence in a Hindi film. Kishoreda (Kumar) sang ‘Pag Ghungroo’ as only he could. He rightly won the Filmfare award for his vocals. I consider ‘Pag Ghungroo’ among my best achievements. Ashaji’s ‘Jawani Jaan-E-Mann’ was also a big hit.”

Bappida has a very special place for Namak Halaal in his heart. “It was my first film with Prakash Mehraji. Before this, he worked with the great Kalaynji-Anandji in Haseena Maan Jayegi, Zanjeer, Haath Ki Safaai and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Namak Halaal was a big challenge for me. After this Prakash Mehaji and I did Sharaabi with Bachchan Saab again taking the songs to unexpected heights. They don’t make stars like Bachchan Saab anymore. Or filmmakers like Prakash Mehra.”

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