Malaika Arora recently opened up about her most iconic song ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ and shared how the shoot turned out very different from what she had imagined. She recalled the challenges, Mani Ratnam’s unique vision, and also how the experience became a milestone in her career.
‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ became a turning point in Malaika Arora’s career
In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, Malaika, who is known for her dance numbers, admitted that ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ became a turning point in her career. She said that people continue to shower love on her for that performance even today, and she feels very grateful because the song gave her so much recognition.Talking about the shoot, Malaika revealed that she had initially arrived on set in full makeup and dressed in a beautiful lehenga-choli designed by Manish Malhotra. Everything looked perfect, clean, glamorous, and film ready. But director Mani Ratnam had something completely different in mind.“Manish had done my clothes and all that. It was pristine, clean, and chaka chak, you know, like, ‘Get me that lehenga choli,’ and I had done makeup and all, and I was waiting. Mani Sir came and said, ‘Oh ho… Too much makeup – take it out. Not looking nice, please take that out. I was like, ‘Take out matlab pura makeup nikal ke.’ He is like, ‘Just take out everything.’ So I went and washed my face,” she recalled.The surprises didn’t end there. Mani Ratnam felt her outfit looked too neat and polished, which didn’t fit the raw, earthy look he wanted for the song. To bring in the feel of a banjara (nomadic) vibe, he asked the team to roll the lehenga in mud before Malaika could wear it again. Laughing about the moment, she said, “Then he said, ‘The outfit is looking too clean, it is looking too neat, and I don’t want that. You know you are somebody, you return to show like a banjara. You have to have that. So take the outfit and just put it in the mud. Then just let it look. Just roll it in the mud a couple of times.’ I was like, firstly, I have to remove my makeup, and then I have to wear an outfit that has been rolled in the mud. So yeah, I have to wear that.”
About ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’
The result of that effort is the ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ we all know today, a song composed by AR Rahman, written by Gulzar, and sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi, and the unique train-top choreography featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika made the song unforgettable, both visually and musically.Even after more than two decades, ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ continues to remain special for audiences across the world, and for Malaika, it isn’t just a performance but a defining chapter of her journey in the film industry and one that still brings her love and admiration wherever she goes.
