Madhuri Dixit dancing to the song Ek Do Teen in Tezaab is still fresh in everyone’s memory. So is the song So Gaya Yeh Jahan, featuring actors Chunky Panday and Anil Kapoor. This N Chandra directorial was an instant hit when it released in 1988. Tezaab starred Anil Kapoor who after Mr. India was a huge star. Opposite him was Madhuri, for whom this was the 1st big hit and she went on to give one block-buster hit after another. Anil Kapoor won the best actor award and Madhuri won a nomination as well. This was the 3rd consecutive hit in a row for Director N Chandra after Ankush and Pratighaat.

1. The film released on a Friday and the advance booking opened on Monday that week. There was a long queue [of people] who wanted to watch the movie on the first day. There was a train track near the booking counter where a movie scene was being shot, and as the news spread, people waiting for tickets rushed to see it. It was Anil Kapoor who was giving a shot for Tezaab on top of the train, and the scene was added to the film on Thursday, a day before the release.

2. Laxmikant Pyarelal made N Chandra hear the tune of the Koli (fisherfolk) song, that went like Ding Dong Ding Ding Dong Ding Dong. Javed Akhtar wrote the lyrics to Ek Do Teen within an hour. Choreographer Saroj Khan had Madhuri Dixit rehearse for 16 days before the song was shot.

3. After the actors finished shooting So Gaya Yeh Jahan, they went to a nearby hotel to grab something to eat. As it was late at night and they were very hungry, they did not remove their bloody make-up. As soon as they entered the lobby, everyone panicked to see them covered in blood. The hotel staff came running to ask if they should call the doctor, and calmed down only after the situation was explained to them.

4. Tezaab was a five-hour-long film that was edited to fit into three hours. But the producer and distributors wanted the film to be even shorter, and suggested that the song So Gaya Yeh Jahan should be dropped. However, N Chandra put his foot down and said that it’s a very heavy film and he needed to calm the audience with the soft number.

5. The composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal wanted to use the Marathi song Jawa Navin Popat Ha in Tezaab, but they soon found out that it had already been used in one of Chunky’s films, Paap Ki Duniya (1988) titled Main Tera Tota Tu Meri Maina. So they had to drop the idea, and the tune that was composed for the song was then sent to Javed Akhtar.

Madhuri Dixit Nene

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