Chhaayaageet #111 - “Yeh ek gaana mere sau gaanon ke barabar hai.”
“This one song is equivalent to my hundred other songs.”
It is the director’s first film. It’s going to be a remake of an earlier cult classic which had not done so well. For the remake the filmmaker producer wants a completely different look, and a completely different sound.
As news spreads that the remake is being planned, the director receives a recommendation. A well wisher visits the director with two music samples. “You must listen to these before you finalize the composers”, the well wisher insists to the director.
The director likes the sound. That’s the type of powerful sound he wants in his film for the music. The composers are two brothers who have been trying to make a few inroads into the Hindi film industry, with their share of struggle.
The director brings them in for a story narration. Over four hours the director reads them the story, pausing in between to even hum the background score. He is that meticulous. The brothers look at each other. This guy even came up the background score? A quizzical expression on their faces.
That gives them an idea of the kind of intensity, tempo and style of sound. They get to work composing the songs. One song after another is getting composed and approved by the director and the filmmaker producer. Work is progressing at a good clip.
One day they come up with two different tunes for a song. They meet with the director to share their work and get his final approval for one of the tunes. The director stays quiet.
“Which tune should we keep?”, one of the brothers asks.
“Let’s do this. Let’s keep both tunes. We will add one more song”, the director gives his verdict.
The lyricist comes up with beautiful, soulful lyrics portraying a wide range of emotions. It is time to audition singers for the recording. Two singers record it independently. They sing it well, but it feels like something is missing.
“Kuch baat jam nahin rahi hai”, they feel. It’s not clicking.
What should they do? One of the brothers has recorded a scratch version in his voice. Should they just go ahead with his voice for the final recording?
“Ek singer hai jo iske saath insaaf kar sakta hai”, they realize. There is one singer who could do justice to this song.
They ring up the singer and tell him there’s one song for him. Could he come and dub?
The singer arrives at Yash Raj Studios. He learns the tune, the words and the composition. He dubs it. The brothers look at each other.
“Kuch baat jam nahin rahi hai”. It’s not clicking.
The singer decides to try again the next day. It’s late in the evening anyway.
It’s now 2am in the studio. The composer brothers are completing other work, recording some strings.
Their phone rings. It’s the singer.
“Arre ye sun. Iss tarah se bilkul sahi lag raha hai yeh. Mein abhi aata hoon studio”, the singer exclaims with excitement. Hey listen to this. The song is sounding very nice if I sing it this way. I’ll come to the studio right away.
The brothers look at each other. It has been a long day. They are tired. The whole day they have been working in the studio continuously with hardly any breaks. They somehow end the conversation asking the singer they can do it tomorrow.
The phone rings again. It’s the singer. The brothers look at each other. They decide to miss his call. Not tonight. The singer tries another three four times. Each time, the composers let it ring. No can’t do.
The phone stops ringing. After some time, someone opens the door of the room to step out into the lobby of the studio. A sound wafts in through the open door. What is that? Someone is singing the song. They walk towards the door in the direction of the singing.
Lo and behold! The singer is standing there rehearsing the song and quite engrossed. He is immersed into it completely, pronouncing each and every syllable with utmost feeling, as if the song is traveling through each cell, sinew and nerve of his body before it steps out of his mouth.
The singer would go on to say, “Yeh ek gaana mere sau gaanon ke barabar hai.” This one song is equivalent to my one hundred other songs.
https://dai.ly/x2r9w9z
Sonu Nigam sang this melodious composition Abhi mujh mein kahin in Agneepath (2012), the remake of the 1990 cult classic of the same name, with music by Ajay & Atul Gogavale, lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Agneepath was the maiden directorial venture of Karan Malhotra for Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Ritesh Deshmukh recommended the brother duo to Karan Malhotra and Karan Johar. Ajay & Atul had composed two tunes for the song O Saiyyan, and were expecting Karan Malhotra to pick one. Malhotra decided to keep both tunes, and thank the heavens he did!
The song won many accolades and was very popular and well received. Sonu Nigam says that this is the song that brought him respect, while other songs had brought him popularity. Sonu Nigam won the Filmfare for Best Male Playback Singer and Amitabh Bhattacharya won the Filmfare for Best Lyrics.
Sonu Nigam performing this song live.
Singer: Sonu Nigam
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Music: Ajay & Atul Gogavale
*ing: Hrithik Roshan
Director: Karan Malhotra
Producer: Karan Johar
Film: Agneepath (2012)