“Kamariya from ‘Mitron’ is the chartbuster of the season. The song has garnered more than a million views and lead actor of the film Jackky Bhagnani and Darshan Raval, who lent his voice to the track, could not have been happier. In this exclusive interview, they talk about what went behind making this track.
Jackky, apart from being the lead actor of the film, you also served as the music curator and helped in putting together the music. How did ‘Kamariya’ come about?
Darshan: Jackky has an amazing sense of music. All his films have had great music. When we made people hear the scratch, they did not like it but Jackky had tremendous faith in the song. He was completely involved in the production of this song.
Jackky: I met Darshan at DJ Chetas’s house. Lyricist Kumaar was also there. I was just happy to be a part of the process. Neither I am a singer nor am I a musician. But, I am a dancer and I love music. Though the scratch of the song was not liked by most people who heard it, I was very confident about the song and believed that it can become huge if we make it the right way. I went back to office and told everyone we will not be using this song but secretly, I asked the team to work on it. I knew when the final track gets ready, everybody will like it.
‘Kamariya’ and ‘Chogada’ – Darshan seems to be the natural choice for songs which have a Gujarati flavour to them.
Jackky: Darshan has just started out and I am sure you will get to hear a wide variety of songs from him in the near future. ‘Chogada’ is also a great track but he has also sung a large number of romantic songs which have become huge hits. He is a singer waiting to explode. He sings songs of different genres.
A lot of people would be surprised to know that the music video of ‘Kamariya’ was just shot in a day.
Jackky: Yes, that is true. Initially, the song was supposed to be used as a background song in the opening titles but we felt that the song is so good that it deserves a music video. We got a budget from the producers which was not much. We sat down and planned carefully as to how we will shoot the song. We started at 9 am and shot till 4 am the next day.
Darshan: And the song was shot in Sidhpur in Gujarat, which is very close to my hometown. Interestingly, I got to know about the shooting from my dad who was around that area that day.
Jackky, you gained weight for your character in the film.
Jackky: The character that I played was very lazy. If I looked fit, he would not have come across like that. It was imperative for me to gain weight to look the part.
I felt overwhelmed after watching that film. The climax was so emotional. I went out, met Jackky and told him that he has nailed it as an actor.
Jackky, you went to Gujarat and interacted with the honourable CM of Gujarat recently.
Jackky: Again, that also happened because of ‘Kamariya’. The film and the song has helped me get a lot of recognition in Gujarat.
Darshan: Once he starts speaking in Gujarati, you will feel that he is a Gujarati. In fact, the first time I met him I asked him if he is Gujarati.
Jackky: In most of our Hindi films and TV shows, Gujaratis are stereotyped in a certain manner. They do not speak or behave like that. So, with this film, we tried to portray these characters in a very authentic way.
Can we expect to see the two of you collaborating on another project soon?
Jackky: Yes, of course.
Darshan: We have had several musical sessions and are planning a lot of things. Hopefully, you will get to hear about something very soon.