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Legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle has sung several iconic songs in her illustrious career, among which “Raat Akeli Hai Bujh Gaye Diye” and “Dum Maaro Dum” rank as two of the most memorable tracks. In a recent interaction, she shared anecdotes about these songs and even revealed that director-actor Dev Anand almost removed “Dum Maaro Dum” from his film Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).
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Speaking to Republic World about her bond with Dev Anand, Asha said, “Dev ji used to launch new heroines all the time. He launched Zeenat Aman and Tina Munim (now Tina Ambani). I used to tease him, ‘Meri bari kab aayege (When will my turn come)?’” Sharing an anecdote about the song “Raat Akeli Hai Bujh Gaye Diye” from Dev Anand’s film Jewel Thief, Asha recalled how he guided her to approach the track. She said, “Before singing this song, he gave me the brief, ‘Think that you are an 18-year-old girl.’”
She also revealed how RD Burman, fondly known as Pancham Da, conceived the iconic track “Dum Maaro Dum”. Asha said, “When this song was made, we were in Nepal at that time. That was also the time of the hippie generation. So, in Nepal, Pancham Da saw a lot of hippies and asked Anand Bakshi ji to write this song.”
However, due to the song’s controversial nature, Dev Anand initially thought of removing it from Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Asha recalled, “Some raised objection with the wordings of the song. After the recording of the song, we were so happy. But Dev Anand ji told us that he is removing the song from the film because he didn’t want the words ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ and ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram’ to come together. But I asked Dev ji to keep the song. ‘Ye gaana bahut chalne waala hai (This song will work a lot)’, I told him. Dev ji told me that ‘if you are saying this, I will keep the song’.”
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