Pritam pitched 'Channa Mereya' for 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan', didn't initially belong to 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) Music composer Pritam, who has been receiving a great response to his latest soundtrack in 'Metro...In Dino', has revealed that the cult-classic song ‘Channa Mereya’ was initially made for the Salman Khan-starrer ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, and not ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.

‘Channa Mereya’ is a modern heartbreak anthem, and boasts of a loyal following with more than 275 million streams on Spotify with daily streams clocking 2, 00, 000. That may not have been the case, had Kabir Khan picked the melody of ‘Channa Mereya’ for ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ from Munni’s POV.

The music composer recently spoke with IANS, and shared the story behind ‘Channa Mereya’, and how fate played its part in the approval of the track by Karan Johar for ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.

He told IANS, “For the same situation of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, I made ‘Channa Mereya’. It got bounced from ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, and it went to ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. Mukhra was the same, but the lyrics were different”.

He also spoke about two of his frequent collaborators, Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Basu, and what separates the two. Pritam said that the process of arriving at ideas is more or less similar when he works with both of them. However, it's their taste for certain kinds of textures which separates them.

He said, “Imtiaz Ali likes sounds which are flowy, and percussive, those kinds of textures he likes. Anurag likes sounds which are more melodic”.

Earlier, the composer had said that he is still working on the music of 'Metro...In Dino' even after the film’s release. Those who know and have worked with Pritam, know very well that he becomes obsessed with his songs, to the point where he keeps working on them even after the entire film unit and producers think that the music is perfect, and nothing can be done to make it better.

He shared that until he is creatively satisfied with his compositions, he keeps on working on songs. The same is the case with 'Metro...In Dino'. It’s been over a week since the release of the film, and the composer has to urgently deliver the soundtrack for the upcoming big ticket entertainer ‘War 2’ but he still isn’t over 'Metro...In Dino', and hopes he could make some minor tweaks in the films’ soundtrack before its OTT release.

--IANS

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