A legendary track has topped a vote for the UK’s favourite 90s Bollywood song.
BBC Asian Network invited listeners to select The Ultimate 90s Bollywood Song from a shortlist of 50 contenders. A panel comprising the station’s presenters Haroon Rashid, Nikita Kanda, Gagan Grewal, and Nadia Ali, along with industry experts Asim Burney, Amrita Tanna, and Karan Pangali, curated the shortlist.
The list included iconic songs such as “Ole Ole” from Yeh Dillagi and ballads like “Bahon Ke Darmiyan” from Khamoshi: The Musical. However, there could only be one winner: “Tujhe Dekha To” from the 1995 blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ).
DDLJ, Bollywood’s longest-running film, still plays daily at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir Theatre. The film tells the story of Raj, played by Shah Rukh Khan, and Simran, played by Kajol, two Indians living in London who fall in love against Simran’s family’s wishes. Tujhe Dekha To” features the couple dancing in a field of yellow mustard plants and is performed by Kumar Sanu and the late Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away in 2022.
Sanu recalled recording his part separately due to a busy schedule, completing it “in hardly half an hour,” but felt certain the song would be a hit. “Whilst singing we felt that kind of vibration,” he said. “And I was sure this song would do something.”
Upon learning that “Tujhe Dekha To” had claimed the top spot, Sanu expressed his pleasure and gratitude to the fans. “I’ve travelled everywhere and it is always the number one song to the audience,” he noted.
Why the 90s?
The 90s were a golden era for Bollywood, marking the rise of actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, now household names. Musically, the decade saw a fusion of traditional Indian melodies with western orchestras and electronic instrumentation, driven by composers like Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit, and A R Rahman.
Today, Bollywood movies reach a global audience, with streaming services making it easier for fans to connect with the music.
Industry Reflections
Singer Kavita Krishnamurthy, who worked with Lata Mangeshkar, described “Tujhe Dekha To” as “a very, very catchy song” with a film that had “every commercial ingredient.” Actress Kareena Kapoor, in a 2014 interview, named the song as her first pick for a desert island, describing herself as a romantic at heart.
Singer Raghav, known for sampling Bollywood songs, called it “the ultimate dream love sequence,” while actor Ayushmann Khurrana praised DDLJ as his favourite film, one that remained “amazing” even years after its release.
Reflecting on the film’s success in a 2015 interview, Kajol credited the audience for its enduring popularity. “It’s become what it has become because of the people who have been watching it, who have made it theirs,” she said. Shah Rukh Khan added, “Nobody could have imagined the longevity of it. The greatness of the art only follows when the audience appreciates it.”
Actress Deepika Padukone perhaps best summed up the song’s enduring appeal, saying, “I think I belong to that generation where that film impacted a lot of young minds and hearts. We are all Simrans hoping for a Raj to come into our lives.”
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