“Tauba tera jalwa, tauba tera pyaar, tera emosanal attyachar…” Play this track at any party, and chances are, someone will break into a dramatic dance, someone else will mouth the lyrics with full heartbreak energy, and everyone will vibe. Dev.D didn’t just flip the tragic lover trope on its head; it gave us Emotional Atyachaar (Emosanal Attyachar) – a song so wild, theatrical, and oddly relatable, it instantly became a heartbreak anthem. But here’s what most people still don’t know: one of the two bandmasters belting out that song on screen was none other than Nawazuddin Siddiqui. But how did he end up with that role? On the latest episode of AfterHours with All About Eve podcast with Bani Anand, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui spills it all.

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“I didn’t even know the lyrics”

When Bani asked him how he felt about doing Emotional Atyachaar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui revealed the story of how he became the unlikely bandmaster, Rangeela, for the song. He recalled Anurag Kashyap called him up, asking him to travel to Chandigarh all of a sudden. “I can never say no to him, so I just went,” Nawaz shared. “He didn’t even tell me why he wanted me there.”

Once he arrived, the plan was simple: get Nawazuddin ready and get him to perform. “As soon as I got there, they started my makeup, essentially just painted my face white, dressed me as Elvis Presley and sent me on stage.” Anurag told him to mouth the words to the song and dance to it. “I didn’t even know the lyrics,” Nawaz recalled. After a few rehearsals, they wrapped up the shoot in two hours.

Little did Nawaz know that this impromptu performance would go on to become a cultural phenomenon. “I only realised its impact later when I heard people humming the song,” he admitted.

It’s crazy to think how a spontaneous, no-pressure performance turned into an anthem for the ages. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s unintended contribution to the song only goes to show how the most unexpected moments in cinema can create lasting icons. Catch more of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s surprising and candid stories on AfterHours with All About Eve. Watch the full episode here.

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