EXCLUSIVE: Vaibhavi Merchant addresses Besharam Rang controversy: If we had called it something else, it would’ve solved our issues

Shah Rukh Khan returned to the big screen after almost 4 years with Pathaan in 2023. Even though the film shattered box office records, it faced a lot of controversy leading up to the release for its song Besharam Rang. Deepika Padukone came under scrutiny for her moves and wearing a saffron coloured bikini in it. In a recent exclusive chat with Bollywood Bubble, choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant addressed the issue.

Vaibhavi Merchant on Pathaan song Besharam Rang controversy

Pathaan got a lot of success, but the song coming under scrutiny did create doubts on how the film will fare. When asked if facing all that was disheartening, Vaibhavi answered in the negative. She said, “Not really. I was feeling really happy because I felt I was given a great song audio wise. Siddharth Anand, the director, he has got a great mind for song tracks. It was the first song I shot with Deepika. It was our first collaboration and as people said, what a collaboration. I think it was time for us to come together and I really wanted to do something special for her. The song deserved it and she trusted me.”

She added, “We are doing it with complete innocence. We are shooting it with not the intention of ‘oh ho, what will be the interpretation of this step’. In fact, she loved that hip roll step so much that she got it in the third take. I didn’t even know that she had rehearsed. With all of that, we are not going to sit and judge. We aren’t thinking as time nahi hai kisi pe paas ki log kya kahenge. Kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna. (We don’t have time to think what will people say. It’s their job to say something.)”

On Deepika’s saffron bikini…

Vaibhavi informed that the colour of Deepika’s bikini was actually coincidental and not at all a conscious decision. She informed, “Siddharth had shot the scene first when Rubai dives into the pool, gets out and you see John (Abraham). They had shot that sequence before I came in to shoot the song. So, that costume got locked into continuity. I had no choice. And he had chosen the costume because I had already chosen my song costumes. So,we were very happy. We were doing our work.”

She quipped on how the whole controversy for Besharam Rang could have been avoided. Vaibhavi said, “I think, the title of the song, maybe if we had called it Hamein to Loot Liya, it would have solved all our issues. But because it was called Besharam Rang maybe, is what we specualte in hindsight, people had food for thought. But it’s good to be a conversation starter.” The choreographer did another song for the YRF spy universe this year with Leke Prabhu Ka Naam from the recently released Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger 3.

You can watch the entire chat with VaibhavI Merchant here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan together will be a mayhem,’ says Vaibhavi Merchant on the possibility of Tiger Vs Pathaan