A remake with a twist, a new video of popular Bollywood track "Kal ho naa ho", featuring German Ambassador Michael Steiner, his wife Eliese and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid has gone viral online, garnering over 600,000 views within three days of going live on Youtube.
Now a behind-the-scenes footage is to be shared soon.
"Kal ho naa ho" is a song which continues to touch listeners even after over a decade since its release. But memories of the song and the movie are at once revisited upon watching "Lebe jetzt!" - which means "Kal ho na ho" in German - as the trio of Steiner, Eliese and Khurshid enact some key moments from the Karan Johar-directorial.
Steiner fills in for cine star Shah Rukh Khan, lipsyncing the lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar, Eliese smiles and dances away a la Preity Zinta, and Khurshid steps into the shoes of Saif Ali Khan.
It puts a smile on the viewers' face.
The endeavour to pay tribute to the film, its actors and its team also earned a thumbs up from superstar Shah Rukh Khan and "Kal Ho Naa Ho" director Karan Johar.
On Twitter, Karan shared: “With love from Germany!!! @iamsrk you have to see this!!! https://youtu.be/0XK3BVXbVsU #KalHoNaaHo #eternalsong.”
SRK also hailed it, saying: “@karanjohar @iamsrk you have to see this!!! https://youtube/0XK3BVXbVsU #KalHoNaaHo #eternalsong” Drat! They remade it already! Awesome job. (sic)."
Owing to the growing popularity of the video on the online medium and the "mind-boggling reactions from all over", a 'Making Of' of the video will be released, the German embassy announced in a statement.
The song itself was launched on April 24 by Steiner along with Khurshid in the presence of Saif, his mother Sharmila Tagore and writer Akhtar at an event at the German embassy here.
The original video for the song was shot in the US, wherein western outfits were donned by the actors. But the remake was shot in the capital featuring the German ambassador as Shah Rukh and his wife as Preity Zinta in ethnic Indian wear.
The "Kal ho naa ho" sung by renowned singer Sonu Nigam and composed by Bollywood's hit composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was originally shot in US.
