Three decades after its release, the song ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha’ from the 1994 film '1942: A Love Story' continues to hold a special place in hearts, particularly among millennials. The song's enduring popularity stems from its beautiful melody, heartfelt lyrics, and the video featuring Manisha Koirala and Anil Kapoor. Manisha looks so beautiful and innocent in the film that every word of the song seems apt for her. But did you know that the lyrics of the songs were originally written with Madhuri Dixit in mind?
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha was originally written for Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit was initially cast in the film but scheduling conflicts led to her departure. She was replaced by Manisha Koirala who got the role after auditioning for the second time. Lyricist Javed Akhtar, who wrote the song, had shared this detail years ago at an event.
"No one knows that the song Ek ladki ko dekha toh, which became so popular... I wrote it keeping Madhuri in mind. When I was asked to write the song, she was doing the film, but later she left it and Manisha Koirala came in," Akhtar had said.
Madhuri was the guest speaker at the event where Javed Akhtar had made this revelation.
When Kumar Sanu was asked to shave before recording the song
There is one more trivia associated with the song that not many know. According to IMDb, Kumar Sanu, who has sung the track, had went to record the song unshaven but director Vidhu Vinod Chopra felt that Sanu's unkempt look didn't match the youthful vibe needed for the song. Chopra asked him to go home, shave, and return for the recording. The next day, Sanu arrived clean-shaven, much to Chopra's satisfaction, and they successfully recorded the song.
When RD Burman hugged and kissed Kumar Sanu
In a conversation with Indian Express, Kumar Sanu shared that after the song recording was done music director RD Burman hugged the singer, kissed his forehead, and started abusing him.
"Pancham da (RD Burman, in his last film work) came to the singing room and told me, ‘See this song has a lot of ‘jaise’ word. Jaise khilta gulaab, jaise shayar ka khwaab, jaise ujli kiran, jaise ban mein hiran….’ There were many ‘jaise’ in just one mukhda. He told me, ‘Sanu, I want every mention of ‘jaise’ to be different from each other. They shouldn’t be similar sounding.’ He told me if I can sing each ‘jaise’ distinctively, then my song is a hit,” he was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
He also added, "I tried hard singing the word differently each time it appeared and, the song became a hit! Pancham da’s thinking was great. He was a visionary. It was such an extremely creatively way to know how you would want a song to sound different. When the recording was done, he hugged me, kissed my forehead and started abusing me. So, if he liked something, if he liked how the recording went, he would abuse a lot. Mother, father, everything. When I didn’t know this initially, I asked someone next to me. ‘Why is he abusing me?!’ then I was told, ‘Because he really liked it!’"
Kumar Sanu won a Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song.
1942: A Love Story also starred Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa, and Pran. This was the last project of RD Burman, who died before the film was released.