Bollywood Hungama

Ramesh Taurani reveals UNTOLD behind-the-scenes story of Soldier: Nadeem-Shravan and Javed Akhtar were a WRONG combination; reveals a song featuring Bobby Deol and Preity Zinta was SCRAPPED and replaced with Tera Rang Balle Balle

Ramesh Taurani and Kumar Taurani spoke to Komal Nahta and shared a fascinating anecdote about how the music team of Soldier (1998) underwent a major change. Ramesh Taurani said, In those days, there was a saying that aap kisi bhi bade actor ko sign kar sakte ho lekin Bobby Deol ko sign nahin kar sakte! This was because Bobby was very exclusive and was doing only two films, Gupt (1997) and Barsaat (1995). But we held the music rights to both films. Hence, we convinced Sunny Deol to let Bobby sign Soldier. He liked the script and gave his nod. Ramesh added, We had Bobby for just 10 days for the first schedule. During those 10 days, we had to shoot one song and two scenes. But we didnt have a song in hand. Nadeem (of the Nadeem-Shravan duo) had his mukhdas ready, but Javed Akhtar saab was not willing to work that way. He was clear, Main lyrics writer hoon. Poora lyrics main likhunga. Hence, even if we liked the mukhda suggested by Nadeem, it couldnt be used in the song. Ramesh Taurani continued, At that time, I would record a song only when I was 200% sure of its success. But when we recorded the first song for Soldier, I was only 70% sure. However, since the shoot date was approaching, I went ahead with it, thinking, Aage 5 gaanon mein sambhal lenge. Then, we recorded two more songs, but even those didnt satisfy us. This was because team gadbad ho gayi. Nadeem-Shravan and Javed Akhtar were a wrong combination. Ideally, Sameer should have worked with Nadeem-Shravan. Ramesh then stated, Meanwhile, in 1997, Nadeem had to leave India. So, we replaced Nadeem-Shravan with Anu Malik. We again approached Javed Akhtar and requested him to write five songs, as we had a long 50-day schedule in Australia and New Zealand. However, he was very busy and said that he wouldnt be able to work so quickly. We mutually parted ways and then got Sameer on board. He revealed, By then, we had already shot one song, but it hadnt turned out as intended. Preity Zinta was also new. When we saw the footage, we felt that the song was a mismatch. Hence, we removed that song and replaced it with Tera Rang Balle Balle. Thats how Sameer ultimately ended up writing all the songs of Soldier. Also Read: Kumar Taurani reveals Shobha Kapoor made an EXTRA Rs. 25 crores due to Choli Ke Peeche in Crew; makes a BOLD statement: EVERY film should have recreated songs