This is a different kind of an item number you know they're not
talking about skirts and boobs and nose and lips and hips we're not talking about girls anymore
So, if everybody's getting offended that means people
who are getting offended either in them maybe that's why they won't get offended right
And then I started singing and then said they said no, no, no
don't. We don't want the voice. So, it was really funny
Even Allu Arjun when he was on all the press release was saying Devi hasn't done just five
songs he did 25 songs for this film but really that much of work went into it
I don't even know why I asked for a single and not a movie song
Okay it was always my dream to work with Mr Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir
I think he's but unfortunately, he's composing his own music
So, hello everyone and welcome to Pinkvilla. Today I have the gorgeous Kanika Kapoor and
Devi Sri Prasad a.k.a DSP with me today talking about their massive hit Bolega O Ya
So, guys I want to start off by asking you all that it's an item number but this at the same time
the lyrics are contradictory and it's something different. What's your take on that?
I think it's fun because all these years we've been talking about a lot of things about girls and
their looks and their hips and lips and shapes and all that remember all that was okay in songs
and I don't think there's a big anything that should not be done or something so see anything
that is done very new is always you always have some backlash for that always. So, it will be
accepted but people know that it's good otherwise song
wouldn't have become such a big chartbuster in the first place so I think it's okay
And what about you Kanika when you heard the lyrics, I’m sure you know you did not see
this coming maybe you know it’s an item number but the
lyrics are such what was your thought like?
You know actually he's right. When I was reading and learning the lyrics, I was like this is a
different kind of an item number. You know they're not talking about skirts and boobs and
nose and lips and hips we're not talking about girls anymore we are actually talking about
men and I don't think anyone's attacking anyone in the song it's just it's the song is on a
situation it's a you know it goes with the movie and the concept of the movie maybe I
don't know but why not I mean I know it's a little harsh I thought about it and I and I have
had people say that to me actually one or two men have said to me oh, we don't like it.
They've been blunt and they said please don't take us wrong but we just don't like
it but the rest of the world has loved it and really love the fact the way the beat is, the
composition is, the way it's sung I mean they've liked everything about the song
In here, we haven't tried to you know offend anyone or something like that it is like a
statement and it's not even a general statement like see then we have got songs where people
sing about love failure when the guy says oh you girls are all like this, you first show love and
then you just ditch us, all men's life is like then all the girls should put a case on that song.
It was never generally it's like but even girls enjoyed such songs when boys enjoyed that
song because it's just a situation. It's just saying that such a thing is existing in this
world so if everybody is getting offended that means people
who are getting offended have that in them maybe that's why they won't get offended right
My question to you Kanika is you know song can be in any language one thing that you
know it's sung in so many different languages, what's been constant is the mood of the song
you know there's a sense of sensuality that stays constant
no matter who sang it, what was the brief to you and how did
you catch the right mood of the song while doing it?
Well, the brief to me was that don't use your voice. And then I started singing and
they said no, no, no, we don't want the voice. So, it was really funny because I was a bit
confused so it was more to be honest, it was more breath and more you know just a little bit
of huskiness and a lot of expression and clarity of words on the tempo you know it was not like oh,
I don't know how it you know came out so it was a very challenging song but I actually
learned the song on the basis of listening to the Telegu version
For DSP sir you know you said that you're very acquainted with Tamil, Telegu and Hindi but
there were other two languages as well did you feel a sense of pressure to kind of you know
make your mark in languages that you're not very well
acquainted with besides the ones that you already knew?
Yeah it was a challenge for Malayalam and Kannada because I didn't know the languages
because knowing the language really helps in deciding or judging if okay this lyric is going
to work or it's not going to work so that's why now these songs have really worked with all
the people because whenever I make my song into another language I sit with the lyricists
and then I never ask them to translate the same thing into another language I said just take the
flavour of this and do your own thing and write something that will be apt to that respective
language but Kannada and Malayalam I had to have translators and I had some singers who
were helping me who knew both the languages but still so that but it took you know a little
more efforts for me to not to lose the original flavour from those versions
And Kanika for you sung for the who’s who of Bollywood, be it Deepika, Sunny Leone who
named them but you know in south industry singing for a song that features Samantha and
Allu Arjun what was your experience like and what was your reaction the first time you knew
you were on board and these two massive mega stars are going to be featuring?
You know I didn't know properly about the what I was basically going to sing because I think it was a
very busy week of shows every day and I just knew that I was going to go and sing for DSP
sir and I for me that was big enough and yeah and then I think it was later that we got to
know the actor, the actress and I mean as much as I do know about South Indian films, I’m
still new to it. So, I didn't really know the scale of this whole project actually until much later
and but I mean it doesn't matter to me when I’m doing a song, I really want to make sure that
I’ve done a good job because you know you never know in a song what happens, it can go places.
And you know I was going through the comments and I came across this one comment that
said somewhere between Ante Amalapuram to this song we all have grown up we've seen so
many of your massive songs have a Hindi remake, Seeti Maar, Daddy Mommy what do you
think now that the Hindi industry in the south industry is you know mixing up and it's now
becoming more pan India what is your take on the mixture of
the two and how do you see this process happening?
So now if the movies are themselves becoming pan India it's all the more good so whatever
work we do it's going to reach more people then of course the work involved also is going to
be really, really big because so much work because we need to then sit and do this exercise
for every film because even Allu Arjun when he was on all the press release he was saying
Devi hasn't done just five songs he did 25 songs for this film but really that much of work
went into it you know each song, each song apart from composing and recording
orchestration, recording the vocals alone took me like one to one and a half months for each
song then imagine how much time I would have spent on this then sitting on the lyrics and
getting it fine-tuned and then checking the lip sync and all that. So, this O Antava when we
recorded it was not even shot by then we recorded even before it was shot and later on when
we came to know that Samantha was doing it. So even before that we had to imagine and
then match everything to the same mood so it's not an easy job in this case when I was doing
the original people thought, even the director, actor and producer thought okay, the other
versions are going to be like dubbed versions but I never leave it like that even when I did my
bilingual films like Singham and all that the original with Surya we did Singham, original
was from Tamil actually. So, I did Tamil and Telegu so I sat with both the lyricist
simultaneously and got the lyrics written and I got them recorded that's why the audios were
blockbusters equally in both the languages and even the movies so whenever I did any
bilingual, trilingual like that I always did like that. So now
since it's five languages the work was comparatively little more
And Kanika you said that you know you're fairly new to the South, how was your experience
actually working with DSP sir and you know just indulging in that world?
I mean I literally I was called, I went, I sang for 10-12 hours and I went back home and it
really, really felt like it was very easy like I said this before that sometimes when you're
singing with someone so senior and important for a big song and it's a new song it takes time
to settle in with the person to be able to take instructions from them how to sing and really to
be able to let go of yourself and sing but in this case I just felt like I went home and I
just had lunch and then I left, it was very easy
And it was very effortless, it was really lovely I don't know I think I told him I never say that
generally but I told him at least five times that day that I’m coming back and I want to work
with you and I don't even know it gets just weird
The world has loved the collaboration so we hope to see
some more of this happening in the future as well.
My last question to both of you is DSP sir if you want to collaborate with a filmmaker in the
future from the Hindi cinema, I would want to ask who would it be and why?
Okay it was always my dream to work with Mr Sanjay Leela Bhansali
but unfortunately, he's composing his own music
But he's fantastic at that too
Okay actually long time back one of his films in his production I was supposed to work. They
came to my studio, spoke about and all that but then due to some date shift and all that we
couldn't work but I am a huge fan of Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir because his framing, his
visuals are unbelievable and he's so musical and he himself is a choreographer so I totally
understand how he gets that perfection on screen so music composers get so excited when
they see their songs shot so beautifully and so perfectly and after watching his films I
always say one compliment for him, see every one second has 24 frames
right in the movie, one second of footage has 24 frames right so I say every frame of his film
can be like printed framed and kept in our house it's so beautiful and I don't know how he
does that. His perfection of colours, his perfection of costumes, the perfection of the angles,
camera angles and the edit, the musical edit I think it's some other level. So, I just love him
too much. If I can't work with him with this, I want to meet him once. Once I was supposed to
meet him, I missed it at least as a fanboy I want to meet him.
We hope he watches this interview and the message goes out. I'm sure some fan will text him after this.
Yeah, and for Kanika what about you? Who from the south would you want to sing for any
actor, any actress or any filmmaker you probably want to work with?
You know I haven't thought about that yet but I definitely know that I’m going to have not
just film music but I don't know why it hit my head when I went to see sir for the first time I
said I want to do a single with you, you know and I don't even know why I asked for a single and
not a movie song I mean I could I can ask so many movie songs he's doing but I think one
step at a time but I mean there's no one really that I’m thinking that oh I should sing for or I
just think that whatever comes to me with grace I would do the
best I can but definitely going back to Chennai soon
I've invited myself hundred times now.
I was inviting you, Kanika. Of course
That's amazing and we hope to see some more collaborations
happening in the future, can't wait for you guys
And since she mentioned I also would like to mention that even I am coming up with some
singles in Hindi as well it was my dream for a very long time so but I definitely would want
all of you to give me the same kind of love and support when
I come out with my singles as well so hope you like it
Absolutely and it's great to see the amalgamation of Hindi and south and now actually calling
it fan India and that's the future now we're going to see more of it, so thank you so much guys
for joining in and we'll meet super soon. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you.