Pakistani singers crossing the border to lend their voice for a song or two in
India isn't a new story at all. Back in the day Nazia Hassan and Zohaib made
the music of Disco Deewane rocking success and since then this has become a trend.
In 2004, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan made his debut in Bollywood with the music of Paap
and it wasn't long ago when the Bhatts welcomed Atif Aslam to Bollywood with
open arms and made him sing for their production. And it wasn't just Atif who
made it there, from Rahat Fateh Ali khan to Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ali Zafar, Mustafa
Zahid, Ali Azmat, Call, Annie, Adeel Chaudhry and Shehzad Roy all crossed the
border for a singing stint. Here's a look at the five singers who actually made
it big in Bollywood in the past few years!
Atif Aslam
Pakistani artists and singers are known for making music of different
genres whereas in India most of the music made is the typical
filmy sort. And the audience demands variety, so when the need
for diversity arose the directors and producers had no choice
but to look across the border for fresh talent. And when they
did so, their eyes fell directly on Atif Aslam! This was back
in 2005 when Atif Aslam crossed the border for the first time
to sing for Bollywood and the Bhatts in particular. After 'Woh
Lamhe' for Zeher, there was no looking back and also I might
add, every single song he gave voice to was a hit to say the
least. 'Tere Bin' topped charts in 2006, 'Pehli Nazar Main'
did the same in 2008 and 'Tera Honay Laga Hoon' and 'Tu Jaane
Na' were the biggest hits of last year among others. So much
so that Atif got nominated for his music in literally every
award function last year. Clearly, Atif has made it big in
Bollywood with the magic of his voice.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has sung the most for Bollywood among all
other Pakistani singers. He has contributed in 30 different
movies in the past 6 years and all of these movies have been
big budget films starring the best that Indian cinema has to
offer. His music has been a part of Om Shanti Om, Singh is
King, Namaste London, Aaja Nachle, Billu Barber, Love Aajkal,
My Name Is Khan, I Hate Luv Stories, We Are Family, Dabangg
and many others. Now if a big budget movie comes out without
Rahat's voice in it, it seems incomplete! These days Rahat
is the co-judge of a music show with Sonu Nigam which airs
in both India and Pakistan. With all these achievements up
his sleeve, one can only wonder if even the sky is the limit
for Rahat.
Shafqat Amanat Ali
Shafqat Amanat Ali made his debut in Bollywood with the famous
'Mitwa' from Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, which turned
out to be a super hit! It continued to top charts for weeks and
was probably the best track of the movie. That's when Shafqat
made his place in the hearts of many Indian music lovers and
what better start could Shafqat have hoped for than to sing for
Karan Johar's production? But that wasn't it for him. He went
on to sing 'Yeh Hosla' for Dor, which turned out to be an extremely
beautiful track that got lots of critical acclaim. Along with
giving his voice to movies like Hello, Mumbai Cuttings and Aashayen,
he recently sang 'Bin Tere' for I Hate Luv Storys and the song
was nothing less than a chartbuster! Shafqat may not have sung
as much as other Pakistani singers for Bollywood, but whatever
that he has sung has been phenomenal!
Ali Zafar
When most other Pakistani singers crossed the border to sing,
one couldn't figure out why Ali Zafar wasn't doing the same?
Maybe he was waiting for the right time, maybe he had other
plans or maybe he wanted to do something different - at that
point in time we didn't know what it was. Today we certainly
do. He wanted to do border crossing like it was never done
before and he did it eventually. Ali Zafar's ticket to Bollywood
has definitely been the much talked about Tere Bin Laden but
don't just forget that not only has Ali acted in the movie
as the lead but also sung four songs of Tere Bin Laden. 'I
Love Amreeka', 'Ullu Da Patha' and 'Welcome To Amreeka' are
tracks composed by the superb trio Shankar Ehsan Loy and sung
by Ali himself while 'Bus Ek Soch' is truly Ali's own composition!
Ali has made us all very proud.
Shehzad Roy
The latest singer to cross the border and join the Bollywood
bandwagon is Shehzad Roy. Sure, he took time to make his singing
debut there but something tells us there's going to be no looking
back. Shehzad Roy's song, 'Bullshit' was featured in Akshay
Kumar's latest movie, Khatta Meetha. The best thing about Shehzad's
debut is that the song is his own composition. It might seem
familiar to Pakistanis because it's a mixture of 'Laga Reh'
and 'Qismat Apnay Haath Main' but hopefully will be fresh enough
for Bollywood directors. Here's wishing Shehzad Roy all the
best for his future projects.
– Hafsah Sarfraz
