Genre Romance Label Sony Music | Length 05:23 Producer(s) Karan Johar | |
Released 27 September 2003 (India) Writer(s) Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (music)
Javed Akhtar (lyrics) | ||
Kal Ho Naa Ho (Hindi: कल हो ना हो, English: There May Be A Tomorrow Or Not) is a Hindi song from the 2003 Hindi film Kal Ho Naa Ho directed by Nikhil Advani. The song is one of the most popular Hindi film songs all time. The song was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy with lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar and sung by Sonu Nigam. It quickly became popular upon release. There is also a sad version of the song in the film on which Sonu Nigam is joined by Alka Yagnik and Richa Sharma.
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Sonu Nigam was busy when the song was to be recorded. Instead of opting for some other singer, Karan Johar decided to wait for a month before Sonu came back and recorded the song for the movie The song was featured in Outlook's list of Bollywood's Timeless Melodies, making it the only contemporary selection on the list.
About the song
The theme of the song was composed by Loy Mendonsa of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio and Shankar Mahadevan arranged the groove.
Legacy
The song was featured in Outlook magazine's 20 Best Hindi Film Songs Ever list. The jury was composed of celebrities such as Gulzar, Hariharan, Javed Akhtar, Kumar Sanu and Shantanu Moitra. Each jury member was asked to nominate 10 favorites and the songs the winners were ranked according to the number of votes each song got. "Kal Ho Naa Ho" was ranked at 19 making it the only contemporary selection in the list.
The track was featured in Hindustan Times's "Song of the Century" list, which described the song as "one of the most unforgettable tunes in recent times."