Mumbai: R. Balki has a rare distinction of bringing together two of the Indian entertainment industry’s heavy weights Amitabh Bachchan and Ilayaraja. Big B has sung for the latter’s composition in Balki’s Paa in the past, and will again lend his voice for a track titled Piddly in the filmmaker’s upcoming film Shamitabh. Says Balki, “I consider myself very lucky. I think there are only two human institutions in the Indian entertainment world one is Amitji and the other is Raja sir. And I’ve worked with both in all my three feature films so far.”
The filmmaker tells us that the two are a riot together. “They are exactly the same age 73. When in the recording room, they were like two excited kids running riot in a toy store. Their level of enthusiasm and passion to excel made me feel very old.”
Apparently Ilayaraja and Big B form a mutual admiration society. Adds Balki, “They both admire one another’s works tremendously. Amitji who has sung songs for many composers (such as Rajesh Roshan, Shiv-Hari, Aadesh Shrivastava, R.D. Burman, Kalyanji-Anandji) says singing for Raja Sir was a dream come true. Amitji remembers each and every song that Raja sir has composed for Hindi cinema.”
At the moment Balki is in Chennai recording the background music for Shamitabh with Ilayaraja. “What he does to cinema is not just add music he lends an added dimension to the plot,” he adds.
