As the second day of the IHNS OTT India Fest and India Entertainment Awards continued in Mumbai, the cast of Rahu-Ketu – Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma and Shalini Pandey – engaged in a lively conversation with Chunky Pandey, which unexpectedly turned into nostalgia. The veteran actor recalls little-known details about the making of Tezaab (1988), giving a glimpse of how close one of its most memorable songs came to being deleted.
Varun Sharma started by sharing a moment from his outdoor shoot for Rahu Ketu. Recalling the first day of filming in Manali, he said that when Chunky Pandey returned late from the set, the team was gathered near the bonfire outside his hotel. “As soon as he came in, people present at the party upstairs started playing ‘So Gaya Yeh Jahaan’. Everyone joined in. The 90s child in us… it felt like nostalgia on steroids,” he said.
Responding to this, Chunky Pandey revealed about the unexpected history of the song. He said, “Let me share a secret…that song was almost cut from the film.” Explaining the situation he said, “When Tezaab was made, the entire film was five hours long. It was actually planned to be released in two parts. What you see today is about three hours and fifty minutes. The team wanted to make it shorter, and they felt the song was too slow.”
According to him, director N. Chandra remained adamant on his point. Chunky said, “He fought hard for it. He said that if the song was removed, the film would look too heavy and would become a headache for the audience. That’s how it survived the final cut.”
