It won't be wrong to say Malaika Arora is amongst the hottest and graceful dancers in Bollywood. The actress, although has several iconic numbers to her merit, the favourite one remains Chhaiyya Chhaiyya from Dil Se featuring her opposite Shah Rukh Khan on the rooftop of a train. Chhaiyya Chhaiyya, despite so many years of release, remains fresh in our minds, all thanks to Malaika, who put forth a classic number to cherish. The song, although seems easy on eyes but it wasn't surely a cakewalk for the actors involved since it was shot on top of a moving train with barely any support. Touching upon the making of the iconic song and delving deep into the struggle that went behind, Malaika, during her appearance on Dance India Dance 7 as Kareena Kapoor Khan's replacement, told she got cuts around her waist after the song was completed. She said since the train was in motion, she kept swaying hither thither and to maintain her balance, a rope was tied against her waist during the filming.
"I fell several times while shooting for the song. I used to sway right and left due to the wind and to avoid that, the team tied a rope through my ghaghra to my waist and then to the train so that it would help me balance my body and sync it with the moving train. Unfortunately, when I removed the rope, I had cuts near my waist and it started bleeding, leaving everyone worried and paranoid," Malaika told.
A still from the song Chhaiyya Chhaiyya
Chhaiyya Chhaiyya was sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi. It was composed by AR Rahman and lyrics were by Gulzar. The song was choreographed by Farah Khan, who won the Filmfare Award for best choreography for the song in 1998. Malaika, after the winning the charts with this song, went on to feature in special songs like Munni Badnaam Hui and Anarkali Disco Chali to name a few.
(Source: Inputs from IANS)