Hindi Film: Kabhi Kabhie
Certified: Jan 27, 1976
Album: Mukesh & Lata Mangeshkar – A Tribute To Mukesh By Lata Mangeshkar (Live Recordings Of Concerts In USA And Canada-August 1976)
Title: Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai
Length: 05:35
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Music Assistants: Jagjit Kaur, Enoch Daniels
Music Dtn: Khayyam
Film Producer: Yash Raj Films, Trimurti Films
Genre: Sugam
Conductor: Anil Mohile
Accordion: Arun Paudwal
Dholak: Narain Naidu
Mandolin: Ravi
Tabla: Ramkant Mhapsekar
Vocals: Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh
Photography By: Dhiraj Chawda
Presenter: Mohan Deora
Edited By: Hridaynath Mangeshkar

Trivia

After coming up with the film's story, which was credited to his wife Pamela Chopra, Yash Chopra brought lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi on board. There were rumours that the film's story was inspired by Sahir's life, but Yash Chopra dismissed them. Sahir was his dear friend, and the filmmaker wanted to use in the film a poem he had written more than thirty years ago for his poetry collection "Talkhiyan" (1943). It was this poem that gave the film its title.

After the success of "Daag" (1973), Yash Chopra had planned to repeat Laxmikant - Pyarelal for this film. However, the music director duo was very busy then, and it was difficult to get time from them. Since the film's central character played by Amitabh Bachchan was a poet, Sahir recommended that they move on and pick a music director who understood and appreciated poetry - Khayyam. In what was a contrarian choice for mainstream films, Yash Chopra then hired Khayyam to compose the film's music. Khayyam was an odd choice because after making a comeback to films in 1973 after a gap of six years, he had not met with much success. The risk Yash Chopra took paid dividends when the film and its music became big hits. Both Sahir and Khayyam won Filmfare Awards for the film. This film paved the path for Khayyam's second innings in films, which turned out to be a lot more successful than his first.

Gulshan Rai, who was financing this film, believed that other than its music, the film had everything else going against it. He was particularly concerned that the audience would not accept Amitabh Bachchan shedding his "angry young man" image for this film. When Rai shared this feedback with Yash Chopra, the director consulted with Mangesh Desai during a re-recording session. Desai said that the film was fine, but he recommended one change. He felt that the film's opening was too artistic. It involved Amitabh Bachchan's character watching his lover, played by Rakhee, doing the wedding "pheras", with each "phera" intercut with his memory of an intimate moment with his lover. Desai recommended that Chopra remove the intercutting and tell the story chronologically. Chopra implemented this recommendation by shooting new scenes involving Amitabh and Rakhee in Kashmir for a few days and making some edits to come up with the opening that eventually hit the theatres. Fearing a flop, Gulshan Rai left Bombay for a few days when the film was released. However, after a cold start, the film went on to become a huge hit.

Yash Chopra conceived the idea for this film with actress Rakhee in mind while making "Daag" (1973). Rakhee agreed to work in the film but by the time work started on it, she had gotten married to Gulzar. Rakhee was in a quandary because while she had committed to working in this film, her husband wanted her to quit acting. Yash Chopra found out about this when the film's cast and crew were about to leave for Kashmir to start shooting for the film. In a bind, Chopra approached Gulzar to seek his permission to let Rakhee work in the film, and Gulzar agreed.

Yash Chopra recounted the shooting of this film in Kashmir as a big family gathering. Many of the film's cast and crew, including Yash Chopra, Amitabh Bachchan and Waheeda Rehman, had travelled to Kashmir along with their family. In fact, Amitabh's parents, Harivansh Rai and Teji Bachchan, and his brother and his wife, Ajitabh and Ramola, even shot for the wedding scene in the film's beginning.

Parveen Babi was Yash Chopra's initial choice for the role in this film that eventually went to Neetu Singh.

Although Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh had worked together before, it was around the time of this film's making that they fell in love. According to Yash Chopra, Rishi Kapoor had travelled to Paris to shoot for "Barood" (1976) at the time and had begun missing Neetu Singh so much that he would constantly send her messages via telegram. The couple went on to get married in 1980.

Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai - This poem, recited by Amitabh Bachchan in the film, was a slightly modified version of a poem that was part of Sahir Ludhianvi's first book of poetry "Talkhiyan" (1943). In 1965, HMV had released a record of Sahir reciting the original poem himself. Sahir adapted the poem and wrote new lyrics for the two versions of the film's title song.