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Baba Sehgal Takes Dig At AR Rahman-Mani Ratnam's Roja Song: ‘Cheap Lyrics; They Didn't Like Me'
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Baba Sehgal recalled how he was approached for the Hindi version of the Tamil song during a performance in Chennai.
Baba Sehgal, one of India's earliest pop icons, recently opened up about his involvement in the Hindi version of Roja's popular track Rukmani Rukmani. The song, composed by the now-legendary AR Rahman for Mani Ratnam's 1992 film, has become iconic over the years. But Baba's experience with the song, as he reveals, was far from rosy.
In a candid chat with Siddharth Kannan, Baba Sehgal recalled how he was approached for the Hindi version of the Tamil song during a performance in Chennai. 'I had a show in Chennai. Somebody from the organising team told me that some director wants to meet me," he began. 'There was an assistant director who came and played Rukmani Rukmani's Tamil version. I didn't pay much attention to it and just said 'yes' to the song. AR Rahman was also there. He was very young at the time."
Baba went on to narrate how Rahman and team visited him at his hotel, requesting him to help release the song. He said, 'I called my friend Atul and gave them Shashi Gopal's number from Magnus Sound. They connected and eventually decided to do a Hindi version, on one condition that one song would be sung by me. I understood then that AR Rahman and Mani Ratnam didn't really like me."
Things took a turn when Baba received the Hindi lyrics. 'When I saw the Hindi lyrics, I was like, 'Kitne vahiyat lyrics hai yaar. Kisne likha hai ye?' (How cheap are these lyrics? Who wrote this?). The problem is, when we listen to songs in another language, they sound fine. But in our own language, we grasp the meaning. I don't think Rahman or Ratnam knew what those Hindi lyrics meant."
Despite his reservations, Baba sang the song alongside Swetha Shetty. But he later learned that the makers originally wanted classical singers for the track. 'It was a forced thing. I was not at all convinced with the lyrics. They were very cheap, I feel," he added.
Baba also revealed that this song turned out to be his only collaboration with AR Rahman. 'Another lady was called to sing the female lines. Later, I told Swetha Shetty to sing those too, and she nailed it. That was my first and last song with Rahman. Language was a problem. We never met after that."
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