Releasing 12th August 2011
After 50 years of singing, Pandit Channulal Mishra is making his Bollywood Debut in Prakash Jha's movie 'Aarakshan' for the song 'Saans Albeli.'
According to Daijiworld.com, it was lyricist Prasoon Joshi who brought the 75-year-old singer to the filmakers attention.
"The song 'Saans Albeli', required a voice with a certain musical fluidity and Channulalji's voice gave the song exactly the texture and depth that I was looking for. It was quite an experience working with a disciplined person such as him." Said the filmaker Prakash Jha in a press statement.
Initially, the veteran singer did not agree to sing for "Aarakshan". He wanted to first hear the scratch song, so that he knew what exactly it was about. Then two days before the recording, the singer told Prakash that since he received just the first antra in the scratch song, he only rehearsed for that, and would sing only as much.
However, composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy immediately recorded the entire scratch so that Pandit could hear it. It was only after rehearsing for a day that he recorded the song, informs a source.
Prakash was so moved with how the song eventually turned out that he requested Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to record another version named "Kaun si dor," which comes at a poignant juncture in the film.
Prakash brought in his younger singer Shreya Ghoshal to sing with Pandit for the track.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who plays a key role in "Aarakshan", was ecstatic to have Mishra sing in the movie.
"Today we hardly have any classical singers in Bollywood. Poetry that we had in my father's generation and voices like Channulalji's are soon moving out of the popular rage," said the superstar.
'Aarakshan' is releasing worldwide on the 12th August 2011.
Female First Haleema Shabir