Lag Ja Gale: In the year 1964, a suspense-thriller film was released – ‘Woh Kaun Thi’. The film failed at the box office, but do you know that the most evergreen song of Indian cinema, which is heard by crores of people today, was rejected by the director of the film considering it as trash? Yes, the song ‘Lag Ja Gale’ sung in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar would never have been released, if the hero of the film had not been adamant! So let us know through this article how a song from a flop film became a blockbuster worldwide today.
The director called Lag Ja Gale trash
This story begins in the year 1963, when the music of the film ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ was being prepared. Veteran musician Madan Mohan composed a very beautiful tune and played it with great enthusiasm to the film’s director Raj Khosla. But Madan Mohan’s hopes were dashed when Raj Khosla flatly refused as soon as he heard the tune.
Raj Khosla believed that it was a suspense-thriller film and the romantic song did not fit in with the serious atmosphere of the film. The director had rejected it considering it to be ‘junk’. Madan Mohan was deeply shocked by this rejection, he was confident that there was something special in this tune. Then amidst this despair enters the film’s lead actor Manoj Kumar.
Manoj Kumar’s insistence
Disappointed Madan Mohan did not give up. He went straight to the film’s hero Manoj Kumar with this tune. When Manoj Kumar heard this tune, he got goosebumps. He understood that this was not going to be a common song, but a history. Manoj Kumar went straight to director Raj Khosla and was adamant that the song would remain the same!
Raj Khosla had to bow down to Manoj Kumar’s insistence and listened to the song carefully again. This time when he understood the depth of the song and the art of Madan Mohan, he was so ashamed of his mistake that he even picked up his shoe to kill himself and called himself an idiot.
Journey from flop to blockbuster
Due to Manoj Kumar’s insistence, the song was included in the film, but there was still one more twist left in the story. When the film ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ was released in theaters in 1964, it received a very lukewarm response at the box office. Initially, the film and its songs were put in the category of flop.
But it is said that real gold is tested with time. Gradually the magic of this song started reaching people’s minds. Lata Mangeshkar’s velvety voice and Madan Mohan’s magical music made ‘Lag Ja Gale’ immortal.
Today, more than 60 years have passed since then, but this song has been heard millions of times on every music platform from YouTube. The song which was once going to be rejected, has today become the biggest legend of the music industry. By the way, is ‘Lag Ja Gale’ your favorite song too? How did you like this story of Madan Mohan and Raj Khosla?