Jaaved Jaaferi: Roop Tera Mastana Shot in One Day

During an upcoming episode of dance reality show India’s Best Dancer Season 5, Jaaved recalled how the legendary track from Aradhana underwent a dramatic transformation before becoming one of Hindi cinema’s most memorable songs.

Sharing the story, he said: “Toh yeh joh gaana original tha, S.D. Burman sahab ne usse ek folk ke hisaab se banaya tha. It was a more folky kind of song. Kishore da ko actually laga ki thoda contemporary, modernize karte hain. Toh Kishore da ne S.D Burman sahab ke saath woh modernize kar diya. Toh joh humne final version suna hain na, woh kuch aur tha... modernized tha by Kishore da because I think joh quality aati hai Kishore da ki, itni versatile quality hain.”

(So the original song was composed by S.D. Burman as a folk number. Kishore Kumar felt it should sound more contemporary, and together with S.D. Burman, he modernised it. The version audiences eventually heard was transformed by Kishore Kumar, whose versatility gave the song its unique charm.)

Jaaved also revealed that the song’s shoot was completed under immense time pressure, with a lot many last-minute changes shaping its final form.

He shared: “And ek aur tha, shooting actually Sharmila ji uss waqt busy thi aur unke paas time nahi tha dance ka, toh ek din unko mila tha, aur Sharmila ji ka part tha woh pura ek din mein shoot kiya tha. Matlab, jiss tarah se shoot kiya gaya aur gaane ka jo recording ke process se leke, shooting ke process tak sab last minute change hua. And I think the result was fantastic, because sometimes under pressure kaam achha hota hai.”

(Sharmila Tagore was extremely busy at the time and had no time for rehearsals or dance sequences. She got just one day, and her entire portion was filmed within that single day. From the recording process to the shoot, everything changed at the last minute, but sometimes the best work happens under pressure.)