Farah Khan Reveals Industry Doubts Over Shreya Ghoshal in Main Hoon Na

Filmmaker Farah Khan recently revealed that several people from the film industry advised her against hiring Shreya Ghoshal for the 2004 film Main Hoon Na. During a visit to Shreya's Mumbai home for her YouTube vlog, Farah shared that industry members questioned her decision to cast such a young and new singer for a major movie. At the time of recording in 2003, Shreya was just 17 or 18 years old, and her debut songs in Devdas had not yet been released. Farah admitted she initially had reservations because the track Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha was sensuous, wondering if a younger voice suited it compared to singers like Sunidhi Chauhan. However, both Farah and music composer Anu Malik firmly believed in Shreya's talent and wanted a fresh voice. Shreya recorded the title track and Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha for the movie, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. Farah noted that Shreya first sang a small portion for Amrita Rao's character, which convinced the makers to give her the track featuring Sushmita Sen. Shreya recorded her songs in 2003, and the film eventually released in 2004 as Farah's directorial debut, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Suniel Shetty, Amrita Rao, and Zayed Khan.

Context

Main Hoon Na became a major commercial success upon its release and remains a popular Hindi film from the 2000s. Playback singers in Bollywood often record songs well before a film hits theatres, and trusting newcomer talent has historically helped shape major cinematic soundtracks.