According to Bollywood Hungama, composer Anand Raaj Anand has revealed that the late Feroz Khan personally intervened to secure him the Welcome (2007) music contract. He also disclosed that for the Welcome To The Jungle remake of 'Ucha Lamba Kad', Akshay Kumar directly instructed singer-composer Vikram Montrose: 'Original gaane ki soul kharaab nahin karni hai' — do not destroy the original song's soul.

Eighteen years is a long time in Bollywood. Stars rise, crash, and rise again. Directors reinvent themselves or vanish. Entire genres go extinct. But somehow, the opening bars of 'Ucha Lamba Kad' still make a room move — and the man who composed them, Anand Raaj Anand, has just pulled back the curtain on why that song exists at all, and why its soul survived into 2026.

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Anand Raaj Anand revealed two stories that, taken together, form a quiet thesis about how Bollywood's music economy really works — not through contracts and labels, but through phone calls, personal trust, and the rare star who cares more about a melody than a marketing hook.

The Feroz Khan Phone Call That Changed Everything

The first revelation is the kind of origin story Bollywood rarely gets to tell because the principals are usually too guarded — or too dead — to confirm it. According to Anand Raaj Anand, as reported by Bollywood Hungama, it was the late Feroz Khan who personally helped him bag the music contract for Welcome (2007). Not a label executive. Not an audition panel. Feroz Khan — the man who was simultaneously the film's producer, director, and leading patriarch of its cast.

For those who remember the era, this tracks perfectly. Feroz Khan operated in a Bollywood that ran on durbars, not deal memos. He picked his people, backed them, and expected loyalty in return. The Welcome soundtrack — 'Kiya Kiya', 'Hoth Rasiley', 'Ucha Lamba Kad' — became one of the most commercially successful albums of the mid-2000s, and its composer is now saying, plainly, that none of it would have happened without Khan's direct intervention.

What makes this more than a charming anecdote is the timeline. Feroz Khan passed away in 2009, just two years after Welcome became a blockbuster. The franchise he birthed has now stretched to three films, each inheriting the musical DNA of that original album. The man who opened the door never saw how far the hallway went.

'Original Gaane Ki Soul Kharaab Nahin Karni Hai'

The second revelation is, arguably, even more telling — because it involves a star whose relationship with box-office gravity has been, let us say, complicated in recent years. According to Anand Raaj Anand's account to Bollywood Hungama, when the Welcome To The Jungle team set about reworking 'Ucha Lamba Kad' for the new film — now titled 'Ucha Lamba Kad Forever' — Akshay Kumar personally instructed singer-composer Vikram Montrose with a very specific brief: 'Original gaane ki soul kharaab nahin karni hai.'

Translation, for those who need none: do not destroy the original song's soul.

Now, this is worth pausing on. Bollywood in 2026 is a landscape where remakes of classic songs are not just common — they are an industrial reflex. The playbook is depressingly predictable: take a beloved track, drown it in EDM drops, add a rap bridge nobody asked for, slap a 'Forever' or 'Reloaded' suffix on the title, and release it with a dance video shot in a warehouse. The original's fans feel robbed; the new audience barely notices. Everyone moves on.

Akshay Kumar, according to this account, chose to push back against that reflex. Whether this was artistic conviction, franchise protectiveness, or the hard-earned wisdom of a man who has watched ten consecutive solo releases underperform — industry chatter suggests all three — the instruction is notable. A star with Kumar's leverage telling a music producer to exercise restraint is, in today's Bollywood, practically an act of rebellion.

The Franchise's Musical Memory

Here is the detail that most reports will skip: the Welcome franchise has always been more musically driven than its reputation as a 'comedy film' suggests. The 2007 original's soundtrack was not incidental — tracks like 'Kiya Kiya' and 'Hoth Rasiley' were as responsible for the film's cultural footprint as Nana Patekar's iconic 'RDX' performance or Paresh Rawal's deadpan delivery. The music was the film's second engine.

That engine has had to be rebuilt twice now — once for Welcome Back (2015), and again for Welcome To The Jungle. Each time, the question is the same: how do you honour the sonic identity of a franchise whose original architect, Feroz Khan, is no longer alive to protect it? Anand Raaj Anand's revelations suggest the answer has been a relay race of guardianship — first Khan, now Kumar.

What the Industry Whisper Network Is Really Saying

Sources close to the production, as per industry chatter circulating since the film's release, suggest that Akshay Kumar's involvement in the music decisions for Welcome To The Jungle went deeper than a single instruction about one song. Speculation is swirling that Kumar was actively involved in approving the sonic palette of the entire album — an unusual level of engagement for a lead actor who is typically shooting three other films simultaneously. Whether this signals a broader shift in Kumar's approach to his projects — quality control over quantity — remains the question the trade is watching most closely.

For Anand Raaj Anand, the revelations serve a dual purpose. They honour a mentor — Feroz Khan — whose contribution to his career has apparently gone under-acknowledged for nearly two decades. And they position the composer as the franchise's musical conscience at a moment when Bollywood's remix culture faces growing fan backlash.

The Bigger Picture: When Stars Protect Songs

The most transferable takeaway from Anand Raaj Anand's interview is not about one film or one song. It is about a pattern that Bollywood almost never talks about openly: the moments when a star uses their leverage not to demand a bigger trailer cut or a more flattering camera angle, but to protect a piece of music from being cannibalised by the very machine that commissioned it.

These moments are rare enough to be worth documenting. In an industry where the remake-remix pipeline treats original compositions as raw material to be strip-mined for algorithmic engagement, a star saying 'don't ruin the soul' is not just a creative note — it is a philosophical position. And in Akshay Kumar's case, given the commercial pressures of his recent track record, it is a gamble: he chose the melody over the marketing playbook.

Whether that gamble pays off at the box office is a question the numbers will answer. But Feroz Khan, who trusted his instinct enough to hand a soundtrack to a composer on the strength of a personal call, would probably have approved. Some doors, it turns out, stay open longest when they are opened by hand — not by algorithm.

Key Takeaways

• Composer Anand Raaj Anand revealed in a Bollywood Hungama exclusive that the late Feroz Khan personally helped him secure the Welcome (2007) music contract — a fact that had gone largely unacknowledged for nearly two decades.
• Akshay Kumar directly instructed Vikram Montrose during the Welcome To The Jungle sessions: 'Original gaane ki soul kharaab nahin karni hai' — do not destroy the original song's soul.
• The Welcome franchise's musical identity has survived across three films and 18 years, with guardianship passing from Feroz Khan to Akshay Kumar, per Anand Raaj Anand's account.
• Industry chatter suggests Akshay Kumar's involvement in the Welcome To The Jungle music went beyond one song, with speculation that he approved the album's overall sonic direction — an unusual level of engagement for the actor.
• The revelations come at a time when Bollywood's remix-remake culture faces growing fan backlash, making Kumar's 'protect the soul' instruction a notable counter-current.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Feroz Khan help Anand Raaj Anand get the Welcome music contract?

According to Anand Raaj Anand in a Bollywood Hungama exclusive, Feroz Khan personally intervened to help the composer bag the Welcome (2007) music album. Khan, who was the film's producer and director, backed Anand Raaj Anand on the strength of personal trust.

What did Akshay Kumar instruct about the Ucha Lamba Kad remake in Welcome To The Jungle?

Per Anand Raaj Anand's account to Bollywood Hungama, Akshay Kumar told singer-composer Vikram Montrose: 'Original gaane ki soul kharaab nahin karni hai' — meaning the soul of the original song should not be destroyed during the reworking for Welcome To The Jungle.

Who played RDX in Welcome (2007)?

Nana Patekar played the iconic role of Uday Shetty, popularly known as 'RDX', in the 2007 film Welcome, directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Feroz Khan.

Is Welcome a remake of another movie?

Welcome (2007), directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Feroz Khan, is widely considered an original Bollywood comedy. The franchise now spans three films including Welcome To The Jungle.

How many films are in the Welcome franchise?

The Welcome franchise comprises three films: Welcome (2007), Welcome Back (2015), and Welcome To The Jungle (2025-2026), spanning an 18-year arc with Akshay Kumar as a constant across the series.