During an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla, Abhijeet Bhattacharya revealed that he suggested Shah Rukh Khan’s name to sing a few lines in I Am The Best. SRK initially refused but later agreed.

Picture courtesy: Red Chillies Entertainment

Remember Shah Rukh Khan’s iconic song, I Am The Best, that defines his stardom at its best? The popular track from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani is still cherished to date for its outstanding composition. While Abhijeet Bhattacharya sang the song, let’s also give some credit to King Khan, who added more fun to the track.

Playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya has now revealed that SRK was quite hesitant to sing the last part of the song.

Shah Rukh Khan initially refused to sing I Am The Best but later agreed

In an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, Abhijeet Bhattacharya shared an anecdote about recording I Am The Best with lyricist Javed Akhtar, director Aziz Mishra, and the music composer duo Jatin-Lalit.

Talking about the last part of the song with Akhtar and others, Abhijeet said that the team was unsure about using his voice. The singer then asked the veteran lyricist to call Shah Rukh Khan to say a few lines in the track.

Shah Rukh, who was in Bombay, reached the recording studio within half an hour and 45 minutes, the celebrated playback singer recalled.

Abhijeet remembered how Shah Rukh hesitated to say those lines and initially refused to sing the last part. The singer shared, ‘He was in a confusion, aake bola, ‘main nahin gaata, mujhe gaana nahin (aata), main gaunga nahin’ (He came and said, ‘I don’t sing. I don’t know how to sing. I don’t want to sing’).’

Abhijeet then told him that he had to sing the last few lines. Later, SRK agreed to record the song.

Quoting Shah Rukh, Abhijeet recalled him saying, ‘I will do better than you.’

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Abhijeet Bhattacharya recalls recording I Am The Best with Javed Akhtar

Speaking about the line, ‘Arey bhai waah ye toh hit hai..’, the 65-year-old singer revealed that he sang in two voices in the track, I Am The Best. ‘Bina saans liye maine do characters gaaye (Without breathing, I sang two characters),” he said.

The chorus was later added to it. While it was initially not convincing to the team, Javed Akhtar stressed to keep this improvisation in the song.

Apart from I Am The Best, Abhijeet Bhattacharya is best known for songs like Chaand Taare, Tauba Tumhare Yeh Ishare, Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaoon, and Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main to name a few.