Abbas-Mustan invited Akshay Kumar to launch the ‘Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast’ track, which has been remade for Mustafa Burmawalla's debut film Machine. ‘Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast’ was popular in the 1990s when Mohra (1994) released. Having a moment of nostalgia at the launch in Mumbai, Kumar credited the famous director duo for shaping his career.
Abbas-Mustan gave Kumar his first hit Khiladi (1992), and Kumar took this opportunity to express his gratitude.
"Abbas bhai, Mustan bhai gave me my first hit, Khiladi. This song (‘Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast’) gave my career a new direction. After this track, I started getting offers to perform at awards. I'm thankful to Abbas-Mustan for giving me the opportunity to reminisce the good old days," said Kumar.
One more person was taking down memory lane when Kumar spoke about 'Tu Cheez...' memories.
"I was too small then," said Mustafa before Kumar interrupted, "Please don’t say that you were too small. You could have merely begun saying, that my best memories of the song are…," said a cheeky Kumar, in a reference to his age.
Mustafa Burmawala: As a child, I would mimic Paresh Rawal in ‘Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast’
Mustafa resumed, "I really loved Paresh sir’s glasses in the song. The moment I first saw the song, I asked my father (Abbas Burmawalla) to get me those funky glasses. I used to perform wearing those glasses.” Kumar chipped in again to say, "No wonder after we finished recording that song, those glasses were never seen again."
Meanwhile, Mustafa’s heroine Kiara Advani, too, shared her memories of the song and meeting the original diva Raveena Tandon.
"It was a surreal moment for me when I met Raveena madam. As a kid, I used to dance to this track in front of the mirror. I think this song is as hot as 'Tip Tip Barsa Paani' (another popular track from Mohra)," said Advani.
Speaking of Tandon, it is well-documented how Kumar and Tandon were romantically linked to each other at the time.
When he was asked about his equation with Tandon now, Kumar smartly said, "That was 22 years ago. I don’t even remember what I had for food yesterday. Please tell me what did you have for lunch/dinner last evening?"
The journalist replied: "Chole Bature..." before Kumar cut him, saying, "I’m sure you are lying. You’ve made this up. On a serious note though, I have worked with Tandon in about 4-5 films. She is a fine artist and it was an honour to work with her."