Pankaj Udhas Was A "Little Reluctant" To Sing Chitthi Aayi Hai In Naam: Mahesh Bhatt

"This (song) worked like magic with people," said Mahesh Bhatt

Chitthi Aayi Hai from superhit Hindi film Naam is one of the most popular songs of Pankaj Udhas's career, and its director Mahesh Bhatt believes the soulful track was the "heartbeat" of the 1986 movie courtesy the ghazal singer. The renowned ghazal singer, 72, died at a Mumbai hospital on Monday morning after prolonged illness. Mahesh Bhatt said Pankaj Udhas, who was used to live audiences, was initially reluctant to sing in the film. "If you think of Naam, you think of Chitthi Aayi Hai, you cannot separate the heart from the heartbeat, you cannot separate the song from the heartwarming moving performance by everyone in it," Mahesh Bhatt told PTI in an interview.

"Udhas was a singer and he sang to the live audience so he was a little reluctant in a way about whether he would be able to pull it off, so we assured him that we wanted him to play himself, we didn't want him to become somebody else. I just told him (think that) you are in one of your shows in Singapore or London and you are singing a song on the stage, the only thing is we will shoot and film it," Mahesh Bhatt said.

The song, whose lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi, became a popular hit. "I remember I and Saroj Khan ji -- she was the choreographer -- we would shoot long takes because unlike film actors who are used to shooting in fragments, he (Udhas) was a person who would come into his own only when he would get large chunks to perform," he added.