Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambakhht Ishq and Mukesh Bhatt's Tum Mile are but the latest in a long list of film titles have been culled from hit songs over the years. Aa Dekhen Zara and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi are also recent examples. Screen checks out an interesting and sustained phenomenon
When a sensuous serenade was needed for the obsessive temptress Urmila Matondkar in Ram Gopal Varma's Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, Sandeep Chowta and lyricist Nitin Raikwar exercised their funky gray cells to come up with the chartbuster, Kambakth ishq. Though the film did only average business, the song zoomed to the top of the charts, giving Chowta's career a fresh fillip. That was seven years ago.

Today, Sajid Nadiadwala, who had used the Sangam chartbuster Har dil jo pyaar karega as the film title for his version of While You Were Sleeping, has adopted Kambakth ishq - with some numerological modification (see intro)- to name his Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor rom-com that will mark the entry of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh, Denise Richards into Hindi cinema. Nadiadwala and new director Saabir Khan might have the best of stars, content and marketing, but they still needed a familiar title to establish a connect with the audience.

Pitching it perfect
But hit songs translating into movie titles are not new in our cinema. And often, the title amazingly fits the story. Aa Dekhen Zara, taken from the hit R.D.Burman-Anand Bakshi song from Sanjay Dutt's debut film Rocky, was just right for the recent Neil Nitin Mukesh-Bipasha Basu thriller about a camera that clicked photographs of the future. Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye may have been a cinematic disaster, but the story was about a fantasy man who inspired the heroine to strive for her goals. The title, as we all know, was derived from the Jatin-Lalit-Anand Bakshi chartbuster from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

And thereby hangs a tale. The title of that 1995 blockbuster that consolidated a long-lasting trend of feel-good movies and became Hindi cinema's longest-running film ever was itself derived from the hit song composed by Ravindra Jain and written by Rajkavi Inderjit Singh "Tulsi" for the 1974 blockbuster Chor Machaye Shor. So perfect was it for the theme and story that producer Yash Chopra inserted a special line in the film's credits that read "Title suggested by Kirron Kher"!

Other songs that - obviously by chance rather than design - formed titles that suited the films completely were Aa Ab Laut Chalen (culled from RK's own film Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai's Shankar-Jaikishan-Shailendra stunner); Basu Chaterjee's Jeena Yahan from the S-J-Shaily Shailendra evergreen from Mera Naam Joker, Rakesh Roshan's Koi...Mil Gaya from Jatin-Lalit-Sameer's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai hit and Aditya Chopra's Laaga Chunari Mein Daag from the Roshan-Sahir evergreen from Dil Hi To Hai.

A Yash Raj tradition?
With Aditya Chopra taking over the creative reigns of Yash Raj Films, it became a musical tradition to cull names from hit songs of yore, beginning, as we said, with DDLJ. Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai was of course the Ravi-Verma Malik wedding song from Aadmi Sadak Ka that has now become a wedding anthem. The next film was Hum Tum, a title that has been associated with at least two famous Laxmikant-Pyarelal-Anand Bakshi mukhdas, Hum tum yug yug se yeh geet milan ke (Milan) and Hum tum ek kamre mein band ho (Bobby). Aditya presumably had the latter in mind, for he got Rishi Kapoor to come in as Saif Ali Khan's dad, singing a re-recorded Main shaayar to nahin from Bobby!

Later came films like Ta Ra Rum Pum (from the Rajesh Roshan-Amit Khanna hit Uthe sab ke qadam from Baton Baton Mein), Laaga Chunari... of course and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom from the Aziz Nazan qawwali that rocked the '70s. Finally, it was time again for L-P and Anand Bakshi, whose bhangra from Manmohan Desai's Suhaag was just perfect for the Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster that ended their bad spell - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

And now in a reversal of sorts, Himesh Reshammiya stars, composes and sings in the forthcoming Pooja Bhatt production Kajraa Re, obviously derived from the YRF chartbuster from Bunty Aur Babli.

Luck by chance?
Hit songs that have also stayed the course make a very sensible option for instant recall when giving a name to a film. For one, it ensures a fresh name, unlike titles like Insaaf, Andaz and the likes that keep being repeated. For another, through its tenuous link with the storyline, it often is the only factor that gives some kind of a face-value to a small film - check Maine Dill Tujhko Diya (from the S-J-Shailendra Shree 420 chartbuster Ramaiya vastavaiya), Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne (taken from R.D.Burman-Majrooh's all-timer from Yaadon Ki Baraat), Dil Vil Pyar Vyaar (the L-P-Majrooh Shagird hit in a film whose music ironically comprised of RD's re-works!), Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (S-J-Hasrat Jaipuri's Aah) and others.

In some of these cases, the films struck gold, even failing to remind us immediately of the songs from which their titles were derived. One such recent example remains Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na (from the RD-Sahir refrain of the song Tera mujhse hai pehle ka naata koi from Aa Gale Lag Jaa), while another was Aashiq Banaya Aapne (from the last words of the mukhda of L-P-AB's Karz hit Dard-e-dil).

The top 'achievers'
It is clear that certain names like Raj Kapoor, Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Anand Bakshi, Shailendra and R.D.Burman have already featured with great frequency even in the limited examples given above.
The LP-Bakshi film Karz has the highest record - of spawning six titles from five of its six songs - besides Aashiq Banaya Aapne it inspired Dard-E-Dil, the small Rajshri Productions film, Paisa Yeh Paisa starring Jackie Shroff, Ek Hasina Thi with Urmila and Saif Ali Khan, Dev Anand's Main Solah Baras Ki and of course Om Shanti Om. The last-mentioned film, indeed, was unique - for Farah Khan used it as the ingenious base for a Karz-like tale by naming the principal characters Om, Shanti and Om again!

Ek Duuje Ke Liye gave rise to Dada Kondke's Tere Mere Beech Mein, the Chennai melodrama Bali Umar Ko Salaam and Akshay Kumar's Mere Jeevan Sathi. And probably the older Mere Jeevan Saathi (also a flop) with Rajesh Khanna came from the Naushad-Majrooh hit from the 1969 South weepie!

Rocky had also Kya yehi pyaar hai and the television show Kis mein kitna hai dum as well.

Shammi Kapoor made it a habit of getting titles culled from his hit songs. The Shammi-S-J hit score of Janwar generated Jawan Mohabbat (Jawan mohabbat jawan rahegi) and Tumse Accha Kaun Hai, while Junglee's Kashmir ki kali became the title of his hit film that launched Sharmila Tagore even as the Junglee song had introduced Saira Banu! However, long after he quit playing lead roles, his songs continued to generate movie titles, like Sunny Deol's Saveray Waali Gaadi (from Laat Saheb), UTV's film debut Dil Ke Jharonkhen Mein (from Brahmachari) and Aamir Khan's Deewana Mujhsa Nahin (Teesri Manzil).

Rishi Kapoor had a high score even otherwise, with songs like Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate (LP-Vitthalbhai Patel/Bobby) becoming director Hrishikesh Mukherjee's last film, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (RD-Gulshan Bawra/Khel Khel Mein) as Ravi Tandon's ill-fated production (Tandon himself had directed the earlier film), Chal Mere Bhai (LP-AB/Naseeb) as the David Dhawan flop with Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, with the LP-AB Sargam spinning Rajiv Kapoor's flop Hum To Chale Pardes and the small film Parbat Ke Us Paar and of course the RD-Majrooh song from Hum Kisise Kum Naheen spinning Bachna Ae Haseeno, son Ranbir Kapoor's first success.

The new avatars
Of late, of course, it is not just enough to name a film from an old film song, but the proven hit must also be used in a "re-created" version, like in Aa Dekhen Zara and Bachna Ae Haseeno. It remains to be seen whether this grows into a full-blown trend, because whenever films have been named from old hit songs, they have usually avoided making fresh title numbers to skip uncomfortable comparisons.

On the other hand, Shantanu Moitra re-created the title-song with rare innovation for the new Laaga Chunari Mein Daag on the matrix of the older classic. And there were those who dared to make fresh title-songs too - names like A.R.Rahman who composed the Daler Mehndi-Chitra hit for Rang De Basanti (the real-life Bhagat Singh's favourite song Mera rang de basanti chola used in Shaheed and all its later versions) and Shantanu Moitra again scored the unusual Khoye khoye chand ki talash mein from Khoya Khoya Chand, the Sudhir Mishra film whose title was culled from SD-Shailendra's Kala Bazar hit.

Shankar-Jaikishan too tried out a new title song in Tumse Accha Kaun Hai while Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy moved away completely from the qawwali-terrain to create the peppy new title-song of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Small-screen Seven
Television serials named from hit songs
Aati Rahengi Baharen (Kasme Vaade)
Burey Bhi Hum Bhale Bhi Hum (Banarasi Babu)
Bol Baby Bol (Meri Jung)
Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Aksar)
Kismein Kitna Hai Dum (Rocky)
Mere Ghar Aayi Ek Nanhi Pari (Kabhi Kabhie)
Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai (Khatta Meetha)

the songs from the hit film Dil Wale Dulhaniya Le jaayenge might have inspired a new title but this film's title itself was inspired by the popular song
Le jaayenge , le jaayenge DIL WALE DULHANIYA LE JAAYENGE