Ajay Devgn introduces Bholaa’s promo song Aadha main aadhi woh

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In an informal meet at the NY DI Wala office, his new premises for his VFX company, NY VFXWaala, Ajay Devgn showed the media the new promotional song for his own production, Bholaa, scheduled to release on March 30.

The song video has been filmed in a unique way: a lone B. Praak, the singer, belts out the emotional number on a stage with musical instruments standing minus any musician around him, creating the right audiovisual atmosphere of desolation and despair, as the visuals intercut with key emotional sequences between Ajay Devgn, Tabu and the child artiste who plays his daughter.

Irshad Kamil’s meaningful lyrics, Aadha main aadhi woh tukde do hum / Aadha main aadhi woh dukhde do hum add a rare poignancy to the Ravi Basrur composition that, as per Ajay, will be used in bits and parts in the background for the emotional action drama based on the 2019 Tamil film, Kaithi (which means ‘prisoner’).

The video screening was followed by an informal chat with actor-director and co-producer Ajay Devgn, who smiled as he appreciated my praises on the song and video. He said, “B. Praak has given such freshness to this song when the high-pitched tenor is actually similar to another well-known singer known for these kind of songs. Irshad-bhai has written terrific lyrics.”

Asked if he missed the monumental lyricist Anand Bakshi, who was Ajay’s past choice in his home productions as well as outside films (Raju Chacha, Hindustan Ki Kasam and Dil Kya Kare as also Zakham, Kachche Dhaage, Bedardi and more), he smiled ruefully and nodded his head. “Of course, what a writer he was!” he said.

I asked him why he thought his remake, Drishyam 2, worked when all others since the last year have flopped, and he makes the rare candid statement: “They were not good films!” In the OTT era when the originals are freely available on demand and remakes are being considered dicey, he stated, “We have to change things to appeal to all-India audiences with great care. In this film, we have made several changes and those should hold together, like I have set the film in Uttar Pradesh with the right flavor and nuances.”

Praising Tabu and the child artiste (who has done minor roles earlier), he smilingly accepted that he had maintained his hairstyle in the film the way he had maintained it in the 1990s. The technology-savvy star disarmingly asked us to judge the technical aspects he had personally looked into in this film, which releases in 3D and IMAX, and justified the use of these to scale up the film’s look and emotional voltage.

Asked why he had chosen a composer from the South, he just quipped, “Ravi Basrur is so good. You can see what level of music he has given me. And this song is such a great combination of his genius with a North Indian singer!”

T-Series Films, Reliance Entertainment and Dream Warrior Pictures are co-producers with Ajay Devgn Ffilms.