24 Years of Dil Se EXCLUSIVE: Ram Gopal Varma reveals that Bharat Shah had suggested playing ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ in the climax to increase Shah Rukh Khan-starrer’s box office prospects

Dil Se, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, was released 24 years ago, on August 21, 1998. Directed by Mani Ratnam, it was not a mainstream saga and was released before the multiplex era. Hence, the film failed to strike gold at the box office. Yet, a section of moviegoers did go to see the film just to catch ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ on the big screen. It featured Shah Rukh and Malaika Arora and the song had become a rage at that point. As the film celebrated 24 years, Bollywood Hungama chanced upon interesting trivia about the film and this super-hit track.

‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ appears in the film within the first 15 minutes. As a result, several moviegoers would leave the theatre after watching the song, composed by A R Rahman. This is because the viewers knew that there was nothing massy in the film after the song. This affected the samosa and popcorn sales in several theatres, sending exhibitors into a tizzy.

This is when the exhibitors hit upon a novel idea – they decided to place ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ towards the end of the film as well! Those who have seen Dil Se would remember that the film ends tragically. Yet, the exhibitors found a way of incorporating it – after Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala fatally hug; the exhibitors removed the part where the explosion takes place. This is the point where ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ was added! These were the days of reels and digital prints were non-existent and hence doing something of this sort was possible.

Akshaye Rathi, a film exhibitor and distributor, told Bollywood Hungama, “Dil Se was released with a lot of buzz and excitement for the simple reason that ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ had become a huge rage. Shah Rukh Khan was in the prime of his career. It marked the coming together of Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma and Shekhar Kapur as producers. Bharat Shah, who was one of the biggest presenters of that time, had backed it. It had a lot at stake.”

Akshaye Rathi continued, “When the film was released, we realized that ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ comes in the first 10-15 minutes of the film. At that time, Shah Rukh Khan had a larger-than-life lover boy image. The sad ending of him dying along with Manisha Koirala wasn’t accepted that easily by the audiences. So to ensure that the ticket sales are complemented by the food and beverage sales, the exhibitors desired that the highlight of the film, that is, ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’, be there after the interval so that people stay back till then. Hence, a lot of exhibitors placed the song in the end as well. They also marketed it that ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ will be played all over again at the end of the film as well. That made people stay back as the song had become so iconic that patrons were more than happy to stay through the entire film just to rewatch it again!”

Akshaye Rathi revealed that the exhibitors made sure that viewers were informed about this change, “The exhibitors had aggressively marketed it. Remember, rickshaws used to be hired to make announcements on microphones? So we had made use of it to spread the word that after the intermission, viewers will get a chance to see ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ once more.”

When contacted, Ram Gopal Varma, one of the producers of Dil Se, exclusively told Bollywood Hungama, “When Dil Se was released; the immediate feedback was very negative. The exhibitors felt that killing Shah Rukh Khan was a mistake. They told us that due to the tragic ending, the viewers are giving the film thumbs down. We were all panicking.”

He continued, “Bharat Shah told me that ‘Bahut gadbad ho gaya hai. There’s one way of saving the situation’. According to him, the moment Shah Rukh and Manisha Koirala hug each other, we’ll cut the part where the bomb goes off. And we’ll add the ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ song! He reasoned that it’s the most liked song of the film and audience would get happy on seeing it twice.”

RGV stated, “I was not the director. Mani (Ratnam) was. I am Mani’s friend. And it was my responsibility to inform Mani. Then it’s his call whether or not he wants to accept it.”

RGV then said, “I called Mani and apprised him of the situation. I also made it clear that I am just a messenger and am merely informing him of what Bharat bhai suggested based on the feedback he got from exhibitors. Mani got very angry with the suggestion. He asked me a valid question, ‘How can Shah Rukh Khan hug Manisha Koirala and imagine Malaika Arora?’!”

Ram Gopal Varma then took this feedback to Bharat Shah, “I told Bharat about what Mani said. To which he said, ‘Toh yeh sab pehla sochna chahiye tha na. Aur usko bolo ki audience itna nahi sochenge. Unko do baar gaana dekhne ko mila hai toh woh log khush ho jaayenge!”

When asked what happened next, Ram Gopal Varma replied, “I don’t know if the theatres went ahead and did it. But in those days, they used to do that a lot.” He signed off by saying, “The lesson I learnt from this incident is that no one takes films as seriously as the filmmaker.”

Dil Se was not the exception. Such kinds of cuts by exhibitors were very common then. Akshaye Rathi stated, “Back in the days, there used to be prints in which you could edit, trim and move scenes forward and backwards. We have done this so many times and for so many films that at times, we exhibitors wish that the new-age digital projection were also equipped with editing software like FCP or Avid! I am sure we would have done a great job at editing and probably won a Filmfare or two as well for Best Editing!”

Akshaye also revealed, “We used to be master editors. My masterpiece, as an exhibitor editor, was Agent Vinod (2012). You should have seen the outstanding cut of the film I had made!”

Also Read: 24 Years Of Dil Se EXCLUSIVE: Farah Khan fondly remembers Chaiyya Chaiyya; says “Shah Rukh Khan even wanted to climb on the top of the train’s chimney. We had to pull him down”