Sadda Haq

Background

According to Rahman, Rockstar is "a character driven film" and hence he had to make use of rock music and guitars. While working on "Sadda Haq", the team (Rahman, Imtiaz, Irshad Kamil and Mohit Chauhan) agreed that they needed a fantastic lead guitarist to justify the tempo and the lyrics of the song. While Rahman and director Imtiaz Ali had short-listed several Indian and international musicians, they had Orianthi on the top of their list, given her incredible body of work and their huge international success. Rahman checked with her agent in Los Angeles and even met Orianthi during one of his visits there. He made her hear the track and Orianthi immediately agreed to be a part of the film, hence Rahman's first collaboration with Orianthi.

Recording

Rahman recorded the song in his Los Angeles studio. Mohit Chauhan says, "I spent an entire day trying to record Sadda Haq with Rahman saab, and a sweet boy, Arpit Gupta, who helped me learn a rock tone. The next day, I did a take when he was yet to arrive and it sounded perfect." The process took six hours, while Imtiaz witnessed the entire process through Skype.

Music video

The music video has Ranbir Kapoor performing in front of a live audience. The video was shot mainly at the Norbulingka monastery in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Antonio De Souza High School in Mumbai and at Central Park in Connaught Place, Delhi, showcasing the band performing to a packed audience. A group of 200 performers from Shimla who had worked with Imtiaz Ali during the shoot of "Yeh Ishq Hai" from Jab We Met teamed up for Sadda Haq too. The group that specialises in the folk dance of Tibet had reportedly left the director impressed by their talent. "While shooting for Rockstar in Dharamshala Antonio Desouza high school for a concert sequence for Sadda Haq, Imtiaz suggested calling the same group of performers from Shimla with whom he had worked during Jab We Met,” says a source from the production team."

Ranbir had travelled to Chennai and stayed with Rahman for a week in order to "feel the song imbibe and absorb it" so that when he finally performs it, the song would be an "extension of his personality."

Reception

The song received immense critical praise. Mitesh Saraf of Planet Bollywood wrote, "It’s mad, it’s wild, and it’s strangely catchy, Sadda Haq, Aithe Rakh portrays the anguish and audacious Janardan (the protagonist of the movie, played by Ranbir Kapoor) in the movie and is no short of being an anthem in the coming days, especially in case of protests. It takes a bit (1.30 minutes) of time to set the mood and the high point comes in the form of some bold lyrics thrown at society with Mohit Chauhan in a never-heard before high pitched voice which leaves the listeners stunned. The highly energetic Electric Guitar (Kudos to Rahman for selecting Orianthi) and Drums (Ranjit Barot) provides an adrenalin rush and sweeps you off your feet.

Controversies

Major parts of the song video were shot at the Norbulingka monastery in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. People waving the Free Tibet flag in the backdrop was shown in the song video. This triggered a dispute between Central Board of Film Certification and Imtiaz Ali when the Board ordered Ali to blur the flag and Free Tibet slogan before the film hit the theatre, but the director refused to do it. Imtiaz Ali said, "I am not concerned at all. I have been out of India for long and don’t know what's going on, but I don’t see anything controversial in the intention portrayal in the movie. The purpose of the movie is not to make any social message, it's more about personal freedom rather than a geographical issue." However, Ali had to remove the sequence from the video to get the film's censor done. Later an official from the Board revealed: "The Censor Board chief explained to them that all the cuts were made by the director voluntarily, and he had the option of appealing to a review board which he didn’t do. There were certain discussions between (Imtiaz) Ali and the Board regarding retaining a kiss between two actors (Ranbir and Nargis), but there have been no disagreement regarding deleting the flag from the frames." Deletion of the Tibetan flag from the video caused wide protests in Tibet, Dharamsala and Chennai.