When AR Rahman recorded a National award winning song with Naresh Iyer at 5.30 in morning

Naresh Iyer in a recent interview, recalled how he recorded the iconic song Roobaroo for the film Rang De Basanti. Iyer, who made his playback debut with the film, ended up winning the National Award that year for the said song. 

It was 5.30 am, I was really tired, Naresh Iyer 

Speaking to Youtube channel O2,  Iyer recalled how he was called on the pretext of recording chorus and backup for some other songs from the soundtrack, like Ik Imkar and Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna, and the Rang De Basanti title track. A.R.Rahman is known for his penchant for late night recordings. Iyer recalled, “It was about 5.30 in the morning. Whenever we are about to leave for home, the sound engineer Sivakumar gave us the laptop and the lyrics. I really didn’t expect Roobaroo to happen this way. I was really tired. And I really didn’t know what I sang also. It was like a one take song literally.”

Iyer recalled that there was one particular section of the song, the main hookline ‘Roo Ba Roo’ which he was not able to sing well. Iyer added, “Maybe It was because of my tiredness or because I was not receptive enough. That’s when Rahman sir asked me to step aside, and decide to sing that part himself. - and that is how that main hookline ended up becoming a duet.”

The magic has already happened, Rahman told Iyer later

Iyer also recalls being called later to record a few lines that had to be punched down. Recalling his earlier unsatisfactory experience, Iyer pleaded Rahman for another chance to record the Roo-ba-roo song. However, Iyer recalls Rahman telling him, “You don’t worry. The magic has already happened. You go home.” Iyer added, “He was very clear that he got what he wanted. His vision was far fetched. I realised it only later when all the awards and adulation happened.”

Rang De Basanti ended up winning all the major music awards that year, and Naresh Iyer won the National award for his debut song Roo Ba Roo. Further reminiscing how it happened Iyer stated, “There was not much thought on it, no such planning. Maybe that’s why the right thing happened, because we think about it too much and just did it.”