New Delhi: Singer-rapper Badshah recently discussed the conflicting reviews of his cover of ‘Humma Humma’, a popular Bollywood song originally written by AR Rahman for the 1995 film ‘Bombay’. The song was remade by Badshah and Tanishk Bagchi for the 2017 romantic drama ‘Ok Jaanu’, which starred Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. The remix was heavily criticised when it was released, even though Badshah had intended to keep the original spirit of the song intact.
In an interview with Radio Nasha, Badshah talked about the inspiration for the song. "With 'Humma Humma', I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and that’s the best part. When you know exactly how you can flip a song, how you can turn it into a Badshah song but not take away from the original song’s soul," he said, explaining that he had a clear idea for how to rework the song.
Badshah said that the remix received a lot of negative feedback, and AR Rahman himself expressed his initial disapproval with the song. He said, “When I did ‘Humma Humma’, I faced a lot of flak. Rahman sir was also very unhappy."
According to Badshah, AR Rahman apologised and saw the remix as a "good song" after first being dissatisfied with it. He recalled, “At an event, I remember, he called me and then he said ‘I am sorry. It took me time to realise it’s a good song. I was just unhappy because of…’ there were some things and that was probably the biggest validation that I wasn’t looking for but I got.”
AR Rahman on ‘Humma Humma’ Remix
Prior to the release of 'Ok Jaanu', AR Rahman had shared his thoughts on the reimagined rendition of the iconic song 'Humma Humma'. The composer said, "I wasn't happy with the idea initially" in a Hindustan Times interview. He said, "I was really hesitant at the start... But Shaad (the film’s director) was insistent. He kept on asking if we could use the song. So I asked Tanishk to come up with the first four bars of the song, and I kind of liked the beat. It sounded good and a bit different.”