Viju Shah Reflects on 23 Years of Music, Specifically ‘Chhal’

Viju Shah discusses his early collaboration with Hansal Mehta on the crime thriller ‘Chhal.’ This marked his first time working with producer Nitin Patil, director Hansal Mehta, lyricist Amitabh Varma, recording and mixing engineer Tanay Gajjar (Ava Studio), and singer K.K. Shah recalls the experience as enjoyable. The film, while not a musical, incorporated music effectively for its genre. Shah highlights the excitement of K.K. recording the title track, along with contributions from Asha Bhosleji, Alka Yagnik, Sadhana Sargam, and Shaan. Javed Ali also sang an alaap in one of the songs. Shah enjoyed creating the background score and notes that ‘Chhal’ was the debut film of Kay Kay Menon and Prashant Narayan. Shah recounts a memorable incident before the recording of the song ‘Dil Jhanjhanale Jaane Jaana,’ sung by Asha Bhosleji, where the lift at Ava studio was out of order. Despite this, Asha Bhosleji climbed four floors to dub the song, demonstrating her commitment.