MUMBAI: Musical maestro Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is relentlessly climbing new heights this year as his latest album ‘Back 2 Love’ achieved the `highest selling non film album’ status in India since its release in June 2014. Taking the music scene by storm, the album, produced by Salman Ahmed, topped both retail and digital charts within a few hours of its release. The album’s lead single ‘Zaroori Tha’ – the video of which, directed by Rahul Sud, featured celebrity real life couple Gauhar Khan and Kushal Tandon, scaled dizzy heights with over 42 million Vevo / YouTube views till date, much more than what most Bollywood song videos have achieved in recent times.
The success of the album did not go unnoticed by prolific Bollywood director Mohit Suri who is revisiting the epic love song ‘Zaroori Tha’ for his upcoming movie ‘Hamari Ahduri Kahani’. ‘Zaroori Tha’ represents the course of true love which never sails smooth. It perfectly depicts the pain and longing experienced by two lovers who are encapsulated by societal structures. The song is picturised on Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi the lead protagonists of the film and captures the central story of the movie.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan said,“I’m overjoyed on the response my latest album ‘Back 2 Love’ has received – Universal Music has done a fabulous job in marketing it and credit to my producer Salman Ahmed too for producing a great album! And now to hear that the song ‘Zaroori Tha’ has been featured in Mohit Suri’s latest Bollywood film ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’ is truly the icing on the cake! With over 42 million video views already – the song will now get a new life as a `Bollywood’ song and will reach out to a much wider audience! I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Mohit Suri and Vishesh Films all the best with the film’s release”.
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Mukesh Bhatt said, “This heartbreaking song from Rahat has given great power to our love saga. Only a singer like him could capture the soul of this situation”.
Mohit Suri commented, “I firmly believe that a song finds a film and shapes it’s destiny. In my experience with music in most of my films, I have always found one of my key songs last. ‘Zaroori Tha’ is one such song and to me it feels like this song was always written for `Hamari Adhuri Kahani’. Very rarely have I found a song that expresses the story between two people so strongly!”
Universal Music Group Managing Director and CEO, South Asia, Devraj Sanyal, said , “The Rahat Fateh Ali Khan project is indeed a case study on how a `non-film’ album can scale such heights of success and grab the attention of Bollywood. The combination of a strong album `musically’ supported by a robust marketing campaign can deliver even on a `non-film’ album as we have proved with `Back 2 Love’. A lead video that has surpassed 42 million views is no mean feat and we are ecstatic that ‘Zaroori Tha’ is now picked up by Mohit Suri who has a terrific acumen for great music himself! We are confident that this song will add immensely to the film as it fits in perfectly with the script. So here’s wishing big success to Mukeshji, Maheshji, Mohit Suri and all at Vishesh Films on their latest endeavor!”
Rahat’s ‘Back to Love’ was the highest selling `non film’ album in India in 2014. It peaked at #1 on both, the iTunes India overall `album’ charts and the Nokia Music `album’ charts, which is usually dominated by Bollywood soundtracks. The combined Vevo / YouTube views of the `Official’ as well as `UGC’ videos off the album uploaded have now crossed a phenomenal 60 million views for the album – unprecedented for a `non-film’ music album.
