Filmmaker Farah Khan, who has now become a popular YouTuber as well, recently interviewed composer Vishal Dadlani on her podcast. The two talked about their long friendship, and how Farah approached Vishal for her 2007 film Om Shanti Om. During the conversation, Farah also revealed that she had earlier approached AR Rahman for Om Shanti Om, who had even composed a song for the film — a track that was later used in another film, and gained massive popularity.
Speaking to Vishal, Farah said, “The first song which Rahman made for Om Shanti Om was Masakali! I don't know where I was going to put it but I love that song and love that word.” Replying to her, Vishal said, “That means the film’s music would have been good even if we weren’t there.”
Earlier in their chat, Vishal also expressed his sincere respect for the Oscar-winning composer, adding, “We love Rahman sir. So I told Farah even if she needed assistant composers for the film, we would do that too!"
The ‘Masakalli’ song was eventually used nearly 1.5 years later, for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6 (2009). Prasoon Joshi had penned the lyrics for the number that became very popular.
Later, talking about their work for Om Shanti Om soundtrack, Vishal stated, “Om Shanti Om is that last big, masala musical — we haven’t made any since. Even now, I see reels explaining how you created Dhoom Tana without AI. We just did it and we were having fun.”
Om Shanti Om marked the first collaboration between Farah Khan and Vishal-Shekhar. The filmmaker and the composer duo later collaborated on Farah Khan’s next two films — Tees Maar Khan (2010) and Happy New Year (2014) as well.
