Indian YouTube star Sahil Khattar, who has made his foray into television with “Gaano Ka Rafoo Center”, says he would want lyricists to draw inspiration from the show which presents a funny take on famous songs and their lyrics.
For the show, which began on Saturday on MTV Beats, Sahil has slipped into a fictional avatar of Salim Suimiya, a tailor.
“I play a character called Salim Suimiya – Jo Baatein karte hai sachi, par chubh apne aap jati hai (who speaks the truth, but they can hurt). There is a wordplay because he is a tailor… We are dissecting lyrics of songs.
“We are going to show all the lyrics writers who write songs without thinking, better ways of working around songs. We will give them some advice to play around words, so the song can be much better. Lyrics writers please take inspiration from this show and Salim Suimiya ko hamesha ‘duaon me yaad rakhna’ (remember the character in your prayers),” Khattar told IANS.
Khattar, who hails from Chandigarh, first rose to fame as a radio jockey. He was only 17 when his late night show “Love Guru” became a hit. He shifted to Mumbai soon, after which he became popular with his street interviews and came to be known as Road Ka Raja. His videos “Every Punjabi In The World” and “Punjabi On The Phone” gave him more visibility.
He says his new character Salim Suimiya has a journey.
“To be honest, a lot of film actors say this, and this is not even a film, this is television, but this is actually what happened. MTV Beats came up with the show ‘Gaano Ka Rafu Center’. They called me. I was like, ‘Hey, I roam around the streets and talk to people’. But they might have seen some of my old work, which may have made them feel that this boy can play this character well,” Khattar said.
The accent, look and mannerisms are based on how a tailor would be from Lucknow or Bhopal.
“Somewhere or the other we wanted it to look very different as well… On the day of the shoot, we thought let’s add in a beard and cap to revisit Rishi Kapoor’s look from ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’, but minus the hair or wig because I don’t have any,” added Khattar, who is bald.
However, he says his part in the show is closest to the Chhote Mamu bit essayed by Aamir Khan in the cult film “Andaz Apna Apna”.
In the show, Khattar has dissected songs like “Main bani teri Radha”, “Dil ullu ka pattha hai” and “Main tera boyfriend”.
