"Kal Ho Naa Ho" ( Tomorrow may never come) is a 2003

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language

filmi Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...

song performed by

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

for the 2003 Indian romantic drama film of the same name. The track was composed by

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...

, while lyrics were written by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...

. In a

pathos Pathos (, ; plural: ''pathea'' or ''pathê''; , for "suffering" or "experience") appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a term used most often in rhetoric (in which it is c ...

version, Nigam is joined by

Alka Yagnik Alka, AlkA or ALKA may refer to: People * Alka Ajith (born c. 1997), Indian multilingual playback singer * Alka Amin (active from 2011), Indian television actress * Alka Balram Kshatriya, Indian politician, Member of the Parliament of India repr ...

and Richa Sharma. ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' was directed by

Nikhil Advani Nikhil Suresh Advani (born 28 April 1971) is an Indian film and television director, writer and producer who works in Hindi cinema. He along with his sister, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani, co-founded the entertainment company Emmay Enterta ...

and written by

Karan Johar Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several s ...

; the latter co-produced it with his father

Yash Johar Yash Johar (6 September 1929 – 26 June 2004) was an Indian film producer and the founder of Dharma Productions. His films featured lavish sets, were often set in "exotic" locations, and incorporated Indian traditions and family values. H ...

under the banner of

Dharma Productions Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd., commonly known and doing business as Dharma Productions, is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Yash Johar in 1979. It was taken over in 2004, after his death, by his son, Karan Johar ...

. The music video of "Kal Ho Naa Ho" features leads

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ma ...

, and

Preity Zinta Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English literature, English honours and criminal psychology, Z ...

was busy when the song was to be recorded. Instead of opting for some other singer,

decided to wait for a month before Sonu came back and recorded the song for the movie The song was featured in ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

's'' list of ''Bollywood's Timeless Melodies'', making it the only contemporary selection on the list. It quickly became popular upon release.

Music video

Aman imagines himself in Rohit's place, romancing Naina, and wistfully sings of life's unpredictability and making the most of life.

Production

The theme of the song was composed by

Loy Mendonsa Loy Mendonsa is an Indian music director and part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio which consist of himself, Shankar Mahadevan and Ehsaan Noorani. Before becoming a music composer, he played piano and keyboards for famous Indian music compose ...

of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio and

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tami ...

arranged the groove. In a later interview in the documentary "Pancham unmixed", Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy revealed that the music of the segment "har pal yahaan" in the song was inspired by the music of R.D.Burman.

Reception and legacy

;Awards *

National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer The following is a list of winners of the National Film Awards, National Film Award (Silver Lotus Award) for Best Male Playback singer. The award was first granted to Mahendra Kapoor in the year 1967. The singers whose performances have won awar ...

IIFA Best Male Playback Award The IIFA Best Male Playback Award is chosen by the viewers and the winner is announced at the ceremony. Arijit Singh and Sonu Nigam holds the record for most wins in this category; Singh also holds the record for most nominations. Udit Narayan ...

- Sonu Nigam *

Filmfare Best Male Playback Award The Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award is given by Indian film magazine '' Filmfare'' as a part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a male playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film s ...

- Sonu Nigam *

IIFA Best Lyricist Award The IIFA Award for Best Lyricist is chosen by the viewers and the winner is announced at the actual ceremony. The award is given in the current year but the winner is awarded for the previous year. Superlatives Javed Akhtar has the most wins w ...

Filmfare Best Lyricist Award The Filmfare Lyricist Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The awards were first given in 1954; however, the Award for the best lyricist was first given in 1959. List of winners 1 ...

- Javed Akhtar The song was featured in ''

'' magazine's ''20 Best Hindi Film Songs Ever'' list. The jury was composed of celebrities such as

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

, Hariharan,

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...

and

Shantanu Moitra Shantanu Moitra (born 22 January 1968) is an Indian score composer, musician and pianist who has composed songs for the Hindi film industry, and is most known for his scores in the films '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (200 ...

. 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 ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

's'' "Song of the Century" list, which described the song as "one of the most unforgettable tunes in recent times." The song became immensely popular among Telugu audiences after an episode of '' Bigg Boss Telugu, Season 4'' where Mehaboob Shaikh, a popular contestant, was eliminated, when, before leaving, he performed on the song.

References

{{Reflist Indian songs Hindi film songs Songs with music by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Songs with lyrics by Javed Akhtar Sonu Nigam songs