Benny Dayal recalls missing out on singing Behka Behka from Ghajini: I was sad

When singer Benny Dayal stepped into the industry, he gave back to back hits in his first year in the Hindi music industry, with Pappu Can’t Dance Saala (Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, 2008) Kaise Mujhe (Ghajini, 2008), Tu Hi Toh Meri Dost Hai (Yuvvraaj, 2008) and others to his credit.

Dayal shares how, initially, he was supposed to make his debut with the song Behka Behka from the A. R. Murugadoss’ directorial which was composed by A R Rahman. “During Ghajini, I was working as an HR in a corporate firm. That time I was offered to sing another song in the same movie – Behka Behka. I was asked to sing the song, (but) I told sir (Rahman) that ‘I’m at work and I’m unable to come now immediately for the recording’. I was really sad, but then Kaise turned out to be beautiful eventually,” the 38-year-old shares.

Eventually Dayal sang Kaise Mujhe in the soundtrack which was received well. He recalls, “Before Ghajini’s recording happened, he (Rahman) had recorded the song with just a melody. He had no intentions of composing it for Ghajini. He asked me to sing the track. When the work for the movie started, he played the melody (the scratch) to Aamir sir (Khan, actor). Aamir sir loved the melody and he wanted to utilise it in the movie. He also said that he wanted the same singer to sing the song. When I sang the song, I didn’t even know where the song was going.”

Talking about his synergy with the music maestro, Dayal admits that Rahman knows how to “utilise” his voice. “Initially, when I was being approached or I used to approach composers, I felt like a lot of them were clueless. They didn’t know which hero’s face my voice would suit. (However) I always have the faith that I am really good at what I do. It was AR Rahman who actually identified the true potential of my voice,” he ends.