According to Indian media reports, Rahat himself has not set foot in India since 2011, when he was arrested by the custom officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi for carrying unclaimed foreign currency, and was subsequently barred from entering the country.
“Getting the maestro to record for us was not an easy task at all,” recalls the film’s producer Rocky Daswani.
Sham-Balkar, the music composers of the film, did approach other singers to croon the number, but were unimpressed by their renditions.
“After recording with four different singers, we realised that the song was just not working out. Then we sent a track of the song to Pakistan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, recorded Dheere Dheere Kam Hogi Udaasi, in a local studio there,” says a report citing Rocky.
And it was not the producer, but the director who was happiest about having the ”lucky number” on board the project.
“Pankaj had informed Rahat sahab that his songs were always the highlight of films. And that was when he had come on board the project. But Rahat sahab made it very clear that he could not come to India after the problems with the customs. Later, when he finally did record the song our music composers okayed it in one shot. There was no back and forth,” he says. Adding, “And it was perfect. His famous voice will return to India after a long time,” confirms Rocky.
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