Not only did "Dardi Rab Rab Kardi" break all possible records and prove to be another feather in the sultan's turban, it was now the turn of the silver screen to fall to his charms. Starting with none less than Bollywood's best-known filmstar, Amitabh Bachchan, overnight the tinsel town was teeming with bhangra fans who wanted to dance like him, walk like him, dress like him, and just about emulate him in any which way they knew best. Not only did Bollywood borrow increasingly from the bhangra-techno beat of his numbers, it quickly embraced Punjabi as its second language replacing Urdu that hitherto ruled the roost. So that the inimitable ladka and ladki were now munda and kudi, respectively.
The hero who once wooed his lady love with songs like Tum kamsin ho now firmly said Tu kitni sohni hai (how beautiful are you).
Each of his celluloid capers turned out to be bigger hits than the movies they were in giving a new dimension to the popularity of Daler Mehndi, the icon. Silver screen shenanigans copied his trademark style, whether it was Anil Kapoor in Biwi No 1 or Johnny Lever playing the man himself, they proved that imitation is the best form of flattery. Whole sequences were being devoted to the Mehndi mania. Big B, known for his own style of dancing in movies, insisted Mehndi perform live along with him for Mrityudaata, Bachchan's comeback vehicle. The Big B even put a condition that no matter what, they had to fit in the words _ Dardi Rab Rab Kardi _ somewhere in the new song so that instead of Mehndi, this time around Bachchan could be featured singing the whole stanza! This is perhaps the highest tribute to Indian pop and its most popular artist. The rest, as they say, is history. Na Na Na Na Re must be one of the single largest hits of the Indian film industry.
Mehndi's super-duper saga continued with Ankh ladti hai to ladne de with Raveena Tandon in Khauff and Kudiyan Shahar Diyan opposite Juhi Chawla in Rahul Rawail's Arjun Pandit. In fact, Mehndi is the only pop performer who has always portrayed himself on screen, except for Gulzar's Chupke Se, where his soulful rendition of Naina tere Chambal de lutere for music director Vishal has all the trappings of becoming yet another blockbuster.