The song was recorded and released before the movie came out and had already made waves by the time Khal Nayak hit the movie halls. I was suddenly catapulted to fame or infamy, depending which side you were on; there were several discussions on the song, people calling out for my blood, court cases being filed against me in remote towns of India, accusing me of obscenity; the police from the Santa Cruz station arrived at my doorstep one morning, saying I had not responded to a summons sent to me, a word that I had never heard before! My family members thought I was compromising my sense of propriety to make a break in films. I turned a deaf ear to all these snide remarks.
1993, the year when well and truly, my mother’s clapperboard came down on me or rather should I say crashed over my head! My reputation and propriety literally ‘went for a song’, an innocent song, ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’, which was now heard everywhere, from loudspeakers for weddings, on every music channel, and sung by every Romeo on the street. And it was in my voice!
My mother shook her head in dismay, reminding me again and again of her constant warning ‘Avesh mein vivek mat khona’. She was convinced I had lost my vivek, my conscience, to the improprieties of the film world. And indeed, she was not the only one in the family. My sisters too pointed the finger of indecency, surprising me with their response.
I always wonder why the fallout of this song dragged me into a controversy! I was only the singer! The song was written by Anand Bakshi, the dancers were Madhuri Dixit and Neena Gupta and Tips the music company! Tips loved the song and the popularity with the negative publicity sold thousands of records. Why on earth was I singled out for impropriety? Of course that brought me into the limelight, though for the wrong reasons! And I became the ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’ girl. Audiences loved the song and there were demands for it at every live show, in India and abroad. I was included in every Bollywood show.
‘Choli ke peechhey hai kya?’ Much to my amusement, several choli songs were offered to me. One of the most ridiculous was a song brought to me by Dalip Sen. Each day of the
week was associated with a different kind of choli! The last straw was an advertisement for some footwear, where the copy was Chappal ke neechhey kya hai, what is behind the slipper? Sometimes I wondered whether I was a singer or a tailor, being questioned about choli styles!
If I look back over the years, the seeds of the song were sown many years before 1993, in the soil of the village on Showtime! How was I, an unknown singer in the film world, a raw newcomer to Mumbai’s world of glamour, selected by the great director Subhash Ghai, to render a song in his new film? It was a star-studded affair with the likes of Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Jackie Shroff and Anupam Kher in lead roles.
The brickbats kept coming. A lawyer filed a complaint somewhere in Rajasthan and I had to appoint a lawyer there to represent me. By then I had understood the game; it was a publicity stunt for the complainant. This was not the first song that had double entendres.
We have had several songs, which could have attracted the same kind of publicity. In fact, even Meerabai mentions Radha’s kanchukki, her choli, in her songs. The controversy was blown out of proportion.
I had several press interviews where I gave examples of so-called ‘obscenity’ throughout Indian myths and art. The sringar ras in Indian art and music, contains elements of eroticism, mentioning the choli or the angana as accessories to enhance a woman’s beauty. I would give several examples of folk songs in Punjabi, Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marwari, which had all the naughty nuances that were being condemned in this song.
I reminded the moral brigade that every young girl, including myself, had encountered these questions from the eve teasers who hung around girls’ colleges. Anand Bakshi had only answered that question with dignity. ‘Choli mein dil hai mera’ – the choli contains
my heart– he wrote, admonishing the vicarious and lewd comments of boys and men. I said that it was only my sensuous voice and my style of singing which drew the attention of listeners to what was behind the choli! Tips loved it and in fact commissioned me for
another song.
At the end of the day, Khal Nayak, ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’ and I had the last laugh. Khal Nayak walked away with almost all the awards in the various categories of the Filmfare Awards. Best film, Best director, Best actor, best female actor, etc, and ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’ was adjudged the best song of the year, with Alka Yagnik and the beleaguered Ila Arun chosen as the best female playback singers! The lyrics, battered by many citizens of India, including forty-two political parties calling for a ban on the song, got Anand Bakshi the best lyricist award. The so-called vulgar dance won Saroj Khan the best choreographer award!
So, though ‘Choli’ was condemned by many and loved by many more, I was riding high on it! Not that choli was a flag of my popularity or my career, but my own albums too were once again in the limelight. The sponsors of these shows realized that many of my private albums were really popular with Indians abroad so I was invited to join almost every live show for several years. Many years later, Subhash Ghai asked me how much I had earned on the back of this song. My whimsical reply was that though he gave me peanuts for the original song, I had earned popularity and many live shows after the phenomenal success of this song.
Excerpted with permission from Parde Ke Peechhey, Ila Arun with Anjula Bedi, Penguin Random House India.
