Actress-model Lisa Ray has revealed that she inwardly cringes each time Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s popular song Afreen Afreen is played because of her identification with the music video of that song which came out in the 1990s.

On Monday, Lisa wrote about her feelings about the song on Instagram. “I have to confess I have felt uncomfortable sharing or celebrating the #AfreenAfreen breakthrough video of the 90s and iconic song by maestro #nusratfatehalikhan because I was so strongly identified with it,” she mentioned.

Released in 1996, the popular music video features Lisa and Himanshu Malik. It went on to become one of the most-loved music videos of the ’90s, making Lisa one of the most recognisable faces across the country.

Sharing the throwback video, Lisa further wrote, “The song still often plays on cue for events where I am invited to speak of other aspects of my life experience and I inwardly cringe while offering a polite smile.”

However, the 51-year-old confessed that she had come to recognise the power of the song. “Today, as great troubadours I listened to in my youth are passing into the light, I recognise the power of a song to evoke an emotional response in the audience that is tied to who you once were - to a moment in time that is often defined by hope, wonder and the optimism of youth. So of course hearing this song today is no longer about a personal association but represents a universal rite of passage,” her long caption reads.

Afreen Afreen, penned by Javed Akhtar, is one of the biggest hits of Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The song found popularity amongst the youth once again in 2016 after being sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Momina Mustehsan in an episode of Coke Studio Season 9: Sound of the Nation.