Sophie Choudry recalls recreating Lata Mangeshkar’s Jaadugar Saiyan

During her speech during Aaj Tak’s special ode to the Nightingale of India – Shradhanjali Tum Mujhe Bhula Na Paoge, Sophie Choudry shared her experience of recreating Lata Mangeshkar’s song Jaadugar Saiyan, after the resounding success by Ek Pardesi by Asha Bhosle. She revealed that although she was not trained in classical Hindustani, she did her best to keep the essence of the song intact.

“Many say that Lataji is an inspiration. But for me, she was inaccessible, so she could not be an inspiration. I never trained in the Hindustani classic. When Ek Pardesi came out, the song by Asha Bhosle, and it worked really well. Then we wanted to do something more and we shortlisted Jadugar Saiyan by Lataji. She had sung it in two different scales and couldn’t touch it. It was from the movie Nagin, released in 1954 and we felt the younger generation needed to hear these iconic songs,” Sophie said.

Watch the original song here:

She also added, “I know she didn’t like the remix culture. Because people didn’t respect recess. I was listening to her Dil Deewana and I wouldn’t go to school until I had listen to this song.”

Sophie also recalled how she was able to interview Lata Didi at a young age and how the 15 minute interview ended up being 90 minutes long. “Not many people know that I was born and raised in London, so my upbringing is different. I was studying politics, but at the same time I was a VJ. The first interview in my life was with Shah Rukh Khan. Then I had the opportunity to interview Lata Mangeshkar. . I had 15 minutes. She was surprised because I was very young. But in the end, the interview lasted 90 minutes. Everyone think Lataji was serious, but she was very funny, she loved to laugh,” Sophie said.