Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor recreate the 'Aashiqui' magic

Music videos of singles with A-listers have become B-town's latest trend. Following in the footsteps of 'Zindagi aa raha hoon main' show casing the bromance between Tiger Shroff and Pakistani pop singer Atif Aslam, and Tiger and Kriti Sanon's romance in 'Chal wahan jaate hain', comes 'Dheere dheere se meri zinda gi mein aana', which brings to the screen Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor's reel life 'Aashiqui'.
READ: Sonam Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan in Turkey for the ‘Dheere dheere’ song shoot
With revised lyrics, hip-hop beats and a rap section, Yo Yo Honey Singh has recreated Nadeem-Shravan's cult hit from the 1990 love story while keeping the hookline intact, as an ode to the film's producer Gulshan Kumar. Ahmed Khan has directed and choreographed the video for his wife Shaira Khan and Bhushan Kumar.
Speaking to Mirror from Bangkok, Ahmed reveals that while there were several directors in contention for this video, Hrithik insisted on him since he'd directed the other two videos. He immediately zeroed in on Antalya in Turkey, where he had shot a song for the Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif starrer, 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani'. “It has good hotels and beaches, has a sense of history and hundreds of bylanes, some of which will remind you of picture-perfect Spain, while others are reminiscent of Greece or Jordan and some others are distinctly Turkish.We blocked six-seven such gallis in the European side of Antalya. The story demanded this location. Also, the Asian parts have been seen in films.We shot through the day for three days, driving the lineproducer crazy," he laughs.
Did wife Shaira also tear out her hair in tufts? The chuckle is louder as Ahmed insists that his “doll" is more the unit's caretaker than a producer. “Her inputs are honest, uncorrupted," he adds.
For him, the challenge was to create visuals which will bring back memories of Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal, and yet go beyond the original storyline of Aashiqui to tell a new kahani. “This one is about a young, bubbly girl dreaming of her Prince Charming and getting him for real, or rather reel. It was Bhushan's idea to cast Sonam because he thought the hifashion actress and suave, cool dude Hrithik would make a fresh and fab jodi. He was right as everyone will see when Bhushan's music label releases the single next month," he says.
Ahmed admits that his hero has never looked better even though, unlike the original where we see Rahul diving into the pool in trunks, there are no bare bodied shots of Hrithik. “I had already shot him that way in 'Meherbaan' for 'Bang Bang' and didn't want to repeat myself. But both he and Sonam have eight-nine changes, including a tux and a bridal gown," says Ahmed. The gown has a con nect with the original film. In the song Mera dil tere liye dhadakta hai, Anu, going against tradi tion, is potrayed as a bride in white.
The image stuck in Ahmed's mind, and a quarter of a century later, he dressed Sonam in a white gown. So, does the song end with a wedding? “That would be telling," Ahmed quips. “All I can tell you is that Hrithik is a hero to even the locals. Fortunately for us, the Turks are very well behaved and never disrupted the shoot. In fact, all the crowd dancers and passersby you see are hired local talent and each one did their job perfectly." For latest Bollywood updates, follow us on Twitter >>>@TOIEntertain
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