On a soulful track

Bollywood singer Anupama Raag has recreated and sung Shakeel Badayuvi’s famous ghazal ‘Mere Hamnafas Mere Humnawa’ and recently released the video on her youtube channel which is getting good reviews from her listeners.

Shot entirely in Lucknow, this is her fourth single shot in the city. In her hometown, she sang and shot ‘Lal Dupptta’ with Mika Singh, and a duet with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan that featured Kunal Khemu and Vartika. Her solo ‘Naina Mange Thoda Chaina’ was again shot in Lucknow.

“This is an era of remixes and recreations. People have experimented with old songs, retro and songs of 90s. But, ghazals have not been touched. ‘Hamnafas’ has been sung by Begum Akhtar, Farida Khaanum, Jagjit Singh and others. So, I rearranged the ghazal in a very contemporary way which can connect well today’s music,” said the singer, who is also a bureaucrat.

Sung in a soulful voice, she has featured in the song with Lucknow-based Akarsh Alag. “We have shot the song here in Gold City, Gomti Riverfront and some portions have been shot at my residence too. Our director of production (Siddharth Mishra) is from Mumbai, rest everything has been done here,” said Anupama.

The song has been produced by Shree Geet Production.

She had composed two songs that have been sung by Rekha Bharadwaj. “Both songs have been recorded. ‘Hui Main Tumhari’, which is a beautiful number, has been shot in Los Angles with actor Neetu Chandra. Actor Richa Chadha will feature in the second song and the video for the same is yet to be shot,” she said.

Anupama has sung many film songs which include ‘Shalu Ke Thumka’ for Mallika Sherawat in ‘Bin Bulaye Barati’, for Madhuri Dixit in ‘Gulab Gang’ besides ‘Zila Ghaziabad’, ‘Mile Na Mile Hum’ and ‘Daasdev.’

She also wrote and composed ‘Banjare’ that was sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan featuring Neetu Chandra in the video.

(Top) Anupama Raag, (above) A grab from her video