Pritam 'very happy' with success of 'Afghan jalebi'

Composer Pritam is particularly delighted with the massive response which the song "Afghan jalebi" from Kabir Khan's espionage drama "Phantom" has received online as it is "neither in the forefront" of the film's promotion, nor did it have "Katrina dance in the video".

The song's video has garnered close to 13 million hits on YouTube.

Composed by Pritam and sung by Pakistani singer Asrar, the song features Katrina Kaif, who plays the lead role in the film along with Saif Ali Khan.

"Yes 'Afghan jalebi' has received close to 13 million hits... It's in an action film, so the song was neither in the forefront of promotion and nor did it have Katrina dance in the video because of restriction in the character according to the film, and fairly so," he told IANS in an email interview.

The composer says that although the song did not get "support" from the film's success, it managed to top the charts.

"...And following the release too, it did not get support of the success of the movie too as it's not a highlight in the movie, though it's very intelligently placed in the background... so yes, I'm very happy with the song's performance.

"The fact that it managed to break through inspite of all these hurdles and get hits over a crore views in less than a month is superb," he added.

"Phantom", which revolves around global terrorism, is an adaptation of the novel "Mumbai Avengers" and is based on events post-26/11 Mumbai terror attack. It released on August 28.