The film Anwar, back in 2007, failed to make much noise on the box office but one of its songs became a classic and continues to strike a chord even today. Tose Naina Lage, Shilpa Rao’s debut song starring Nauheed Cyrusi and Siddharth Koirala, fills your heart with melancholy and stirs many emotions. After 13 long years, the 36-year-old Jamshedpur-born singer took the challenging task of reprising the song and launched it recently. Excerpts of the interview:
What prompted the decision of releasing the song again?
It's been 13 years and somehow the love for this song is never gone. This was the only song I did with Sa Re Ga Ma and we decided to collaborate and recreate the magic again. Also, this was a sort of a thank you for all the love that the fans have shown over the years.
You have sung the song so many times, how is this version different?
Doing a version of any song is always difficult and it becomes more so when that song is a classic. People have heard it in a certain way so you still have to keep the essence of the song and make a new version. Jivitesh Kharbanda, a very good friend of mine, helped me in this endeavour. The lockdown also made it more challenging because I have always recorded in a studio with a recording engineer and someone to guide me, but here I had to record it myself, be my own judge and improve upon it. So it's not an easy job but it somehow taught me so much. Utkarsh Amarpuri mixed and mastered it further.
Tell us about the video. How was the experience of recording it yourself?
Shooting the video was very challenging because we had limited equipment. There were no DSLR cameras or other professional equipment. But it taught me that scarcity leads to better ideas. Ritesh Krishnan, director, and I put our heads together to make this video look beyond what you could shoot at home.
If you are given to re-create another song from your discography, which one will that be?
I would love to recreate Manmarziyan from Lootera
What’s next?
There are many songs that I am trying to put out and some are already in the making.