'When he recited the lines for me, it was there and then decided that no other singer but Lata-ji has the right to touch these words,' said Bhandarkar, known for his creative excellence in films like 'Chandni Bar', 'Page 3' and 'Fashion'.

The director says it didn't take him much to convince the singer to go behind the mike for the song.

'I've kept in touch with Lata-ji since 'Page 3'. When I told her it was a song for my film composed by Shamir Tandon, who had done 'Kitne ajeeb' for her, she was immediately interested and asked us to send the tune,' he said.

Lata was also enamoured by the idea that the film starred her Mukesh-bhaiyya's grandson Neil. She is very close to the whole family.

Interestingly, in the last decade Lata-ji has sung two bhajans 'Oh paalan haare' ('Lagaan') and 'Ek tu hi bharosa' ('Pukar') - both for A.R. Rahman.