MUMBAI: The song “Prem Leela” from “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” has added to Salman Khan’s list of entry songs in films—that is, songs with which Khan’s character enters the film, rather than with a sequence with lines spoken by him and other characters.
It is Salman Khan who had recently re-started the unique trend of introducing his onscreen character via a music track in most of his films. This trend of a kind began with the 2009 “Wanted” (the song “Jalwa”) followed by “Hud Hud Dabangg” from the 2010 “Dabangg.” This was followed by the title-track of “Bodyguard” (2011). Some months ago, there was “Selfie Le Le Re” from “Bajrangi Bhaijaan.”
Each of these introductory tracks had a common point—a lasting impact on the audiences with the signature steps emerging as huge hits. The music directors and writers have been different, from Sajid-Wajid to Himesh Reshammiya and Pritam.
This trend was followed in many earlier films off and on, by artists as varied as Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty and Rishi Kapoor.