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Did you know Shah Rukh Khan's iconic song Chaiyya Chaiyya was inspired by THIS Baba Bulleh Shah’s sufi melody?
The legendary Sufi saint Baba Bulleh Shah has influenced several songs in Bollywood and today we are discussing one of them. Read on to know how his Thaiyya Thaiyya became SRK’s Chaiyya Chaiyya.
AR Rahman is a master of his craft. The musical maestro has given Indian cinema some immortal tracks and also those who brought the nation Oscars and Grammys. Back in 1988, Rahman gave Bollywood a chartbuster song titled Chaiyya Chaiyya and it went on to be so popular that in a 2002 poll conducted by BBC in 155 countries, Chaiyya Chaiyya was voted 9th from over 7000 songs competing for the best song of all times.
Featured in the movie Dil Se, Chaiyya Chaiyya featured Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora grooving to the beats that earned love for generations to come.
Did you know Chaiyya Chaiyya was inspired by Bulleh Shah's melody?
Unknown to many, this AR Rahman song draws its inspiration from Sufi saint Bulleh Shah’s song “Tere ishq nachaya kar ke thaiyya thaiyya”. Let us now tell you the back story of how this song came into existence. Once upon a time, Bulleh Shah’s guru Shah Inayat Qadiri was upset with him because of something.
So to convince him, Baba Bulleh Shah who was deeply in love with him sang - “Tere Ishq ne dera mere andar keeta, Bhar ke zeher payala main taan aape peeta, Jhabde wahudi tabiba nahin te main mar gaiyaan, Tere Ishq nachaiyaan kar key thaiyaa thaiyaa (Falling in love with you, was like taking a sip of poison, come, my healer, forsaken, I am sad. Your love has made me dance like mad.”
This Thaiyya thaiyya was then reworked by the veteran lyricist Gulzar in Dil Se who weaved his own definition of it that created a parallel narrative of lovers while it was originally of a master and disciple. And his movie version meant that a man wants ‘Ishq ki Chaanv’ - the warmth and shade of love.
Gulzar even kept it devotional with lines like “Taaveez banaake pehnoon usay, Aayat ki tarah mil jaaye kahin (Made into a charm, I would wear hear, If I ever find her like a verse of the Holy Quran)”.
Also, this is definitely not the first time Bulleh Shah’s words found a mention in a Bollywood song. If you have noticed, words like Bulleya in the songs of Sultan and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil refer to Bulleh Shah only. Moreover, hit tracks Mera Piya Ghar Aaya and Bulla Ki Jaana are also revamped versions of Shah’s poetry.
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