The day, when SRK and Sonu Nigam made everyone go crazy with ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’

In films, there are various pillars that lend a huge support to an actor, and pivotal roles in making him a superstar. Among them, the contribution of a playback singer is also quite impactful in the career of an actor, for the emotions of the voice should match the intensity of emotion on screen. We have witnessed many such actor-singer partnerships in Bollywood, like Mukesh-Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi-Shammi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar-Rajesh Khanna, Kishore Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan, etc. And it was during the period of mid-90s when Bollywood yet again experienced a magic with the successful team up of superstar Shah Rukh Khan along with the king of melody Sonu Nigam.

The year was 1997, and the audiences were going crazy on the release of filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s romantic musical drama ‘Pardes’. And one of the prime reason behind this was a song which carried Sonu Nigam’s melodious voice and SRK’s irresistible charm. It was the cult song ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’ and it was today on August 8, when this film ‘Pardes’ was released, which brought together the pair of Sonu Nigam-Shah Rukh Khan on big screen. (Also Read: Shah Rukh Khan reveals he never discusses work with Salman Khan and Aamir Khan)

‘Yeh Dil Deewana’ instantly became a rave among music lovers and also marked the arrival of the singer, eventually bringing him his much-needed prominence. The song was composed by musical duo Nadeem–Shravan while the lyrics were penned by late veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi.

Following this song, both of them went on to deliver various intense tracks together, like ‘Suraj Hua Maddham’, ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ title track, ‘Main Hoon Na’ title track, ‘Dheere Jalna’, ‘Main Agar Kahoon’, ‘Do Pal Ruka’ and the most recent one being ‘Halka Halka’ from ‘Raees’ that was eventually deleted from the film but was later released online by the makers.

Talking about the film ‘Pardes’, it also marked the debut of actors Mahima Chaudhry and Apurva Agnihotri, both of whom arrived with a bang with movie, but could not sustain the success in Bollywood. This film even witnessed Shah Rukh Khan working under Subhash Ghai’s direction for the first time. Earlier, they both had worked together on ‘Trimurti’ which was only produced by Ghai and was helmed by late Mukul S. Anand. ‘Pardes’ was a commercial, critical and musical hit and is still remembered among fans and moviegoers.

Well, this day is indeed a special one, don’t you think? It was the start of a famous partnership that eventually went on to win numerous hearts.

Amod Pandit

Quiet, resonant, and creative, he can be seen immersed in his own world, and puts in his heart and soul into the one passion that he has, Bollywood. His line for survival? Feel happy to be a part of it.