Ramesh Taurani Shares Behind-the-Scenes Story of Soldier Involving Bobby Deol, Javed Akhtar, and Nadeem-Shravan

Behind the Scenes of Soldier (1998)

Ramesh Taurani and Kumar Taurani spoke to Komal Nahta about the making of the 1998 film Soldier, sharing details about how the music team underwent a major change. Ramesh Taurani explained how they convinced Sunny Deol to let Bobby Deol sign the film, given that Bobby was very exclusive at the time.

According to Taurani, the production had only 10 days with Bobby Deol for the first schedule to shoot one song and two scenes without a finalized song in hand. Working with the music duo Nadeem-Shravan and lyricist Javed Akhtar proved difficult because Akhtar wanted to write complete lyrics rather than working from pre-made mukhdas. Taurani noted that Nadeem-Shravan and Javed Akhtar were a wrong combination, stating that Sameer ideally should have worked with Nadeem-Shravan.

After Nadeem left India in 1997, the filmmakers replaced Nadeem-Shravan with Anu Malik. When Javed Akhtar could not write five songs quickly for their upcoming 50-day schedule in Australia and New Zealand, the two parties mutually parted ways and brought Sameer on board.

Taurani also revealed that an initial song featuring Preity Zinta and Bobby Deol was scrapped because the footage felt mismatched. The removed track was replaced with “Tera Rang Balle Balle,” resulting in Sameer writing all the songs for Soldier.