SRK gives Priyanka more screen space

Mumbai, Jan 29 (IANS) If Priyanka Chopra declares from the rooftops that she is Shah Rukh Khan's biggest fan then it is with reason. The superstar, who has been taking more than a passing interest in the music of the films he produces, decided to give away a large portion of his duet in "Billu Barber" to her.

"Shah Rukh took very close interest in each one of the songs. He isn't a musician, but he has an instinctive ear for music. It takes him just a few seconds to approve or cut down a track," composer Pritam Chakraborty told IANS.

With the songs meant for Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Pritam faced no problems.

"Shah Rukh loved his songs with Kareena ('Marjani') and Deepika ('Love mera hit hit'). They were straightforward dance songs with shared grooves between Shah Rukh and Kareena and Deepika," said Pritam.

The song with Priyanka needed special treatment and Shah Rukh made Pritam re-work and re-record the song.

"Shah Rukh's song with Priyanka 'Khuda-ae-kher' is not an item song. It's a love ballad that the pair playing Bollywood superstars emote to in front of the camera. Being a love song Shah Rukh felt there wasn't enough of the female presence in the vocals. He made me re-record the song with more for the female vocalist (Dominique) to do since he wanted Priyanka to have an equal number of lines," the composer said.

"It was entirely Shah Rukh's idea to give Priyanka more lines in the song. He's a very generous entertainer. If you see him on screen he never tries to steal the limelight from his heroines. Even 'Khai ke paan banaras wala' in 'Don' had a lot of Priyanka in it although it was entirely Shah Rukh's song," Pritam added.

Asked about Shah Rukh's generosity, Priyanka sighed and said: "What do I say? Now do you know why he's my favourite?"

Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta, who play a rustic couple in "Billu Barber", will later be seen enacting the same Shah Rukh-Priyanka ballad.

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