Komal Nahta had a conversation with Adnan Sami, during which he shared a fascinating piece of trivia about his breakout track ‘Lift Karadey’. He said, “‘Kabhi To Nazar Milao’ was a (huge hit). But it was a very romantic song and it had a slight niche. Meanwhile, ‘Lift Karadey’ broke me into the masses and my song was played everywhere. It became an anthem. The funny part is that the record label, at that time, was dead set against releasing ‘Lift Karadey’! They didn’t believe in it. Their justification was that two songs had already been released, both of which were romantic – ‘Kabhi To Nazar Milao’ and ‘Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein’. They were wondering which song to release next. That album had more romantic songs and that’s what they were eyeing.”
Adnan Sami reveals ‘Lift Karadey’ was considered “downmarket” by record label: “I had to FIGHT 6 months to release the video; it was shot with ZERO budget and NO permissions; I would quickly dance and run!”
Adnan Sami continued, “I suggested releasing ‘Lift Karadey’. They told me, ‘Kya baat kar rahe ho? Kahan Kabhi To Nazar Milao or Barsaat aur kahan yeh downmarket song! Come on, you’ve got a sophisticated image of a romantic singer’. I replied, ‘I feel Lift Karadey has a lot of potential. Secondly, I don’t want to get trapped in one genre. This was the time for me to break that mould’. I also reminded them that the biggest of playback singers sang all kinds of songs, whether it was Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar etc.”
Adnan Sami then revealed, “The argument went on for 6 months! Main apni zid pe adaa raha. They must have thought, ‘Iss artist kadimaag kharab ho gaya hai do hit deke. Chalo isko khush karte hain’. So as an ehsaan on me, they made the video of ‘Lift Karadey’ without any budget! We shot all scenes on the streets of Mumbai on Sunday morning in guerrilla style. We had no permissions. The team would check ki koi dekh nahin raha. Then, I would come out (of the car), do a couple of steps and quickly leave. Then we would go to the next location.”
Adnan added, “Once the song was released, it went through the roof. Now they came back to me and said, ‘Iss gaane ka remix karte hai’ (laughs). I made it clear that I’ll not create a typical remix. So, we did a fun, cinematic tribute. It featured Shatrughan Sinha, Asrani, Johny Lever, etc. And for this music video, unhone bada kharcha kiya! In short, ‘Lift Karadey’ almost didn’t happen. It happened due to my insistence.”
Also Read: “HUGE fan of Shankar-Jaikishan, R D Burman, Bappi Lahiri etc but they also lifted songs; Sholay’s ‘Mehbooba’ was inspired…agar aap original composer ka naam daal dete, toh aapke shaan mein koi kami nahin aati” – Adnan Sami
Tags : Adnan Sami, Bollywood Features, Down The Memory Lane, Features, Flashback, Interview, Kabhi To Nazar Milao, Komal Nahta, Lift Karadey, Music, Reveals, Song, ThrowbackBOLLYWOOD NEWS – LIVE UPDATES
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