Ottagathai Kattiko

"Ottagathai Kattiko" (lit. 'Hug the camel')is a song, featured in the 1993 Tamil film Gentleman. The song was written by lyricist Vairamuthu in the Tamil language. It was composed by A. R. Rahman and sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and S. Janaki. Shehnai was played by S. Ballesh. Thavil was played by Sundar.

"Ottagathai Kattiko"
Screenshot from the music video of "Ottagathai Kattiko"
Song by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki Thavil:Sundar
from the album Gentleman: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Published	1993
Released	1993
Recorded	Panchathan Record Inn
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	5:15
Label	Pyramid
Composer(s)	A. R. Rahman
Lyricist(s)	Vairamuthu

"Ottagathai Kattiko" is set to the Carnatic rāgam Dharmavati.[1]

This song features the lead pair of the movie Arjun and Madhoo. The pretense of the song is of Madhoo, who is at her cousin's wedding, dreams of Arjun.

The starting lines of the song is similar to a portion of the 1991 song, "Eddem Ante Teddam Antav", composed by Raj-Koti and sung by Malgudi Subha from the album Chik Pak Chik Bam. However, it was later clarified that Rahman, who was an arranger in Raj-Koti's team, helped them in composing the original song.[1] It was K. T. Kunjumon, the producer of Gentleman, who insisted Rahman to partially reuse that tune.

It was featured in a BBC fashion runway show. The song was remixed by French rap group La Caution and became a huge underground hit in France and Germany. The resulting remix "Pilotes Automatique" appeared in the film Sheitan.

The song was also reused by music director Anu Malik in the Hindi remake of Gentlemen, titled Roop Suhana Lagta Hai and by A. R. Rahman in his album Vande Mataram (1998) as "Musafir". This song was sung by Rahman himself, but the instrumentation is completely different.