Recently, Mika Singh spoke about his friendship with Salman Khan, for whom he stood up as threats to his life from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi gained intensity. In an interview with The Lallantop, Mika Singh recalled a story about Khan, who called him up late at night and indicated that he might replace his song in a film, and proceeded to sing to him over the phone. Mika also admitted that he once had a lyric that referenced Katrina Kaif altered at Khan’s request.
In the interview with The Lallantop, Mika said that he respects Salman, and that they first met back in the 1990s. He said that while others hung around Salman and tried to enter his inner circle, he wasn’t intelligent enough to even ask for his number.
“He came to one of my shoots, whereas it should have been the other way around. We interacted, but I didn’t think to butter him up and ask for his phone number. I would have, had I been smart enough,” he said, adding that they met again a decade later, when Himesh Reshammiya called him up for a song in the film Bodyguard.
Mika continued, “I had already done the song Jumme Ki Raat for him, but I thought that my voice was terrible in it. Salman Bhai loved it, and nobody wanted to disagree with him. In my excitement, I tweeted about it. Now, Salman Bhai usually likes talking on the phone at 2 AM, and he gets very upset if you don’t answer his calls.”
Mika said he was in Bali at the time, and he received a call from Salman, who sang Hangover for him. He also sang his version of Jumme Ki Raat, and said that he was thinking that his version should be the one in the film Kick.
Mika continued, “I never accept jobs where I might be replaced. But here, it was Salman Khan himself who was replacing me. What was I going to do? I was so tense. He asked me if I liked his singing, and of course I said yes. But luckily, one of his nephews was with him. He made him listen to the song as well, but his nephew told him that my version was better.”
Mika said that he often visits Salman and his family at their Galaxy Apartments residence, but the key to getting biryani there is that one has to patiently wait for dinner time and listen to Salman singing. Asked if he really changed a word in a song to maintain his equation with Salman, Mika said, “I changed the word ‘Katrina’ to ‘Jacquelina.’”
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