Singer Neeraj Shridhar says he gave back-to-back hits for films such as Race, Love Aaj Kal and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, but it is the title track of Bhool Bhulaiyaa to which he owes his success in Bollywood.
The singer, also the lead vocalist of Indian pop and rock group Bombay Vikings which was formed in Sweden in the early 1990s, has recreated the popular song for the upcoming film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
Neeraj sang the original song, composed by Pritam and penned by Sameer, for 2007's Bhool Bhulaiyaa directed by Priyadarshan.
"When I sang the original, I was not used to singing Bollywood songs a lot. I had sung many songs for films like Heyy Babyy. Then, I did three songs for Love Aaj Kal like 'Chor Bazari', 'Aahun Aahun', and 'Twist'. There was Race. I also sang 'Prem Ki Naiyya' from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani...
"But none of the songs had come out when Bhool Bhulaiyaa happened. All of a sudden, most of these songs came out around the same time. I owe it to this song (Bhool Bhulaiyaa). It brought me to Bollywood," the singer told PTI in an interview.
Neeraj, who has collaborated with American rapper Pitbull and Punjabi singing star Diljit Dosanjh for the Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 title track, still remembers the first time T-Series head and producer Bhushan Kumar approached him to lend his vocals to the original song.
The singer said just months after he recorded the title song for the 2006 comedy Bhagam Bhag for T-Series, Bushan told him that he would get a call from Pritam.
"Pritam also loved my music for Bombay Vikings. We clicked together right from the beginning. I was really excited because by then I had got the knack of singing in front of a lot of people in a studio. Bhushan bhai and Sameer bhai were there; it was like a concert in the studio." Neeraj said he had to sing the song again because there was "some issue with the audio files".
"It was finally recorded at Pritam's studio. It was one of the first songs to be recorded there." The singer said he didn't anticipate the Bhool Bhulaiyaa title track would go on to become a chartbuster.
"I was told that this was going to be a hit. But I took it like just another song. But it became a huge hit," he recalled.
Fifteen years later, Shridhar was called upon again to sing a newer version to the same song but for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, directed by Anees Bazmee.
"At the time, I had not sung a Bollywood song for a long time. The last time I gave a huge hit was 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu' (from 2012's 'Cocktail')... I sang about four or five new lines for the Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 track,” he said.
"That also worked out pretty good... I was kind of reborn in Bollywood. Recently, I met Bhushan bhai and he told me to not speak to anyone about the new version for the third film. He only said it's going to be big," he added.