Shankar Mahadevan Reveals How Abhay Deol Was Tricked Into Singing 'Senorita'

Shankar Mahadevan reveals Abhay Deol thought 'Senorita' recording was just a rehearsal

Mumbai, July 15

Mahadevan shared that 'Senorita' was just supposed to be a kind of situational song.

"Where these three guys get a little drunk and are passing through one of the villages in Spain. There's some local music happening there, and they just join in for a bit, you know, groove and dance a little, foot-tapping music to the Spanish rhythm. Then they go ahead and do a little bit of an Indian jugalbandi kind of a thing," he told IANS.

Mahadevan, who has been tagged as the global cultural ambassador for Indian music, revealed that when they started working on the number, and the whole concept came out so beautifully, he, along with Ehsaan and Loy realised that it had the potential to become a "really, really big hit."

"We worked a lot on the hook line. Actually, we first came up with one melodic hook, then another melodic hook, and finally did a combination of both of them. Javed ji came up with the word 'Senorita', that was part of the compositional process," said the singer.

Revealing how he got the stars Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol to sing, Mahadevan shared:

"Then we decided, why not have all three of our heroes sing? Farhan, obviously, is a singer, so he had no problem. But Hrithik is also a fabulous singer. He played me one of the songs he had sung, 'What a Beautiful World It Is,' in one of his films. I heard that and said, 'You know, it will be beautiful to have his voice."'

"The person who was the most nervous and inexperienced behind the mic was Abhay Deol."

Mahadevan said he had to use a little technique with Abhay.

"He wasn't ready to sing at all, so I just told him to come to the studio. I said, 'Just try it out. Just have fun behind the mic. This is only a rehearsal. If it works, we'll fix another date for the actual recording.'"

"He said, 'Okay, I'll try it, but I'm sure it's going to sound terrible,' and was very unsure of what he was doing. He came in, and I just started recording a few lines. I told him, 'Just imitate me. Whatever I'm singing, you just repeat after me.'"

Mahadevan said Abhay thought it was just a rehearsal.

"He thought it was only a rehearsal, but it was actually the final take. When he came out of the booth, I said, 'Yeah, yeah, it's done.' He said, 'Oh, really? I mean, when do I come back for my recording?' I said, 'The recording is already done. Now you'll hear the final song once we put your voice into it.' He was very shocked and happy at the same time."

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was released in 2011. The film was directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment.

The film stars Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, and Kalki Koechlin. It follows three friends from school, Arjun, Kabir, and Imran, who go on a three-week road trip in Spain for Kabir's bachelor party.

— IANS