Chhaayaageet #124 - “Arre woh to jab main aaram kar raha tha, ussi waqt likh diya.”
The filmmaker has a film on the floors. But his mind is distracted by a different script. Every day after pack-up, he goes back to writing the screenplay of this other film. The story is building up slowly. The characters are so powerful. He feels he can relate to the protagonist, who is a rebel. He can feel the rebellion.
The film on the floors completes. The other screenplay is still a bit of work in progress. It’s been five years now. He even tried starting the film. He got together with a composer. But it didn’t work out. He ended up shelving the project.
While he lingers on the screenplay, he ends up making a few other films which become hits. But yet, he feels his best is yet to come. The feeling refuses to go away.
One day, he meets the hero from his previous hit. After some small talk about here and there, the hero says, “Bhai, main kuch din pehle aapki team ke member se baat kar raha tha. Ussne mujhe bataaya, aapne ek film adhuri chhod di thi. Woh musician waali.” I was talking to one of the members of your unit a few days back. He mentioned that you abandoned a film about a musician in the middle.
The filmmaker is taken by surprise. Not many people know about his other project. This hero hadn’t even made his debut then. “Haan, bas kuch baat nahin bani. Bahut complicated story hai. Thodi si hatke hai.” Yes, it didn’t work out. It’s a complicated story. It wasn’t mainstream.
The hero has a disappointing look on his face. “Jitna maine iss story ke baare main suna hai, kaash iss musician ka role main kar paata.” Whatever I have heard about this story, I wish I could play the role of the musician.
The filmmaker’s eyes light up. Perhaps this is why he hadn’t made this film yet. The protagonist has been missing. But now here he is.
He decides to restart the project. It’s about a simpleton who is a closet musician. Nobody takes him seriously and is constantly derided by everyone. He eventually falls in love, has a breakup, and then rebels against the entire world through his music.
He puts the crew together, bringing together a composer and lyricist. The composer works out all the tunes in and sends them to the lyricist. The lyricist is a young guy just like the filmmaker.
The filmmaker is explains the situation of all the songs to him. “Ye gaana jo hai, wo film ke aakhir mein hoga. Iss mein hero apni mehbooba ke liye gaa raha hai and usse woh saari jagah le ja raha hai jahan wo pehle mile the. Yu samjho ye gaana film ka epilogue hai.” This song is at the end of the film. In this song, the hero sings for the first time for his beloved and takes her to all the places where they had been throughout the film. In a way, this is like an epilogue song.
The lyricist gets to work. He is well known for his speed. There is a qawwali, a rock song, this epilogue song, and a few others. The qawwali and the rock song push him to the limit. He decides to take a break. While he rests with eyes closed, he decides to listen to the composition of the epilogue song. As the tune flows, so do the words. The composition is so smooth. Almost like a river with him throwing the lyrics in it gently and making them float.
After nine days, the lyricist and the filmmaker meet. The filmmaker is impatient. “Do you have the lyrics and what took you so long this time?”
“Bhai, woh qawwali aur rock song mein thoda time lag gaya.” Brother, the qawwali and the rock song too much of my time.
“Aur woh epilogue song?”, the filmmaker asks. What about the epilogue song?
“Arre woh to jab main aaram kar raha tha, ussi waqt likh diya.” I wrote that song while I was taking a break and resting.
Fast forward to recording the song in the studio. The male singer used to be a vocalist in a band. In a way, he is quite apt to provide playback for this film. The hero is also at the recording. He learnt this from his grandfather. Even if you are not singing, always be present for your film’s song recordings.
The male singer starts singing. Something doesn’t seem right. “Stop”, screams the filmmaker. “Kya kar rahe ho?” What are you doing?
He grabs the singer by the arm and takes him to a corner of the studio. Everyone tenses up at this sudden development, including the hero. What has angered the filmmaker?
It’s hard to hear but the filmmaker is extremely animated, moving his hands and his body as he is attempting to explain to the singer. The hero is observing everything closely, thinking this is exactly how the filmmaker explains a scene when he messes up a shot. Suddenly it dawns on him. The filmmaker wants every person in the unit to feel the rebellion in the story’s protagonist. No matter whether you are an actor, singer, lyricist, or composer, everyone associated with the film must feel the character in their bones.
Tum ho paas mere was sung by Mohit Chauhan, written by Irshad Kamil, and composed by AR Rahman for the film Rockstar. Imtiaz Ali wrote the story/screenplay and directed the film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri.
Rockstar was Imtiaz Ali’s fourth film as director after delivering hits such as Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, and Love Aaj Kal. Growing up as a kid, he loved spending time at his aunt’s house in Jamshedpur since it was connected to two movie theaters. He would spend hours with the projectionist watching how he would set up the projector, work with the film reels, etc. Anything related to the film industry was always fascinating to him.
The story about Rockstar was in Imtiaz Ali’s mind while he was filming Jab We Met in 2007. A Hindi-speaking, desi jaat boy from the narrow lanes of Delhi, who is just infatuated by this whole idea of becoming a rockstar. Imtiaz would work on its screenplay whenever he got some spare time. Finally, he decided to team up with AR Rahman as the composer and a producer to make Rockstar but he did not get along with the producer. The project was shelved.
The next opportunity came after 5 years while he was talking to Ranbir Kapoor. Ranbir found out about this film from someone in the unit and was excited to play the rockstar character. AR Rahman was also after Imtiaz to resurrect the film since he was passionate about the variety and style of music that Imtiaz had planned for it. Imtiaz was convinced that Ranbir had the looks and demeanor to play the lead character.
Irshad Kamil had been working with Imtiaz since the Socha Na Tha days. They both were of the same age group and had similar views, especially about the youth of India and their rebellious side. The chemistry between them worked like magic. In Rockstar, Irshad had command of all genres and his wordplay easily traveled the terrains of life, philosophy, romance, patriotism, sensuousness, and Sufism. In the song Tum ho, the wordings were simple and were written during the break he got writing other songs. Kun faya kun took the longest since it was using words from the religious text and it was important for Irshad to maintain the sanctity and at the same time do justice to the divine composition by Rahman.
Mohit Chauhan had a similar track record working alongside Imtiaz having delivered hit numbers in Jab We Met as well as Love Aaj Kal. In Rockstar, he did take his performance to a different level. Songs like Jo bhi main which brought out the dilemma of the protagonist, Sadda haq about the artist’s rebellion against society, Kun faya kun about Sufi qawwali explaining music and life, the love epilogue Tum ho and the search for the metaphorical home in Naadaan parindey.
The film became a cultural cornerstone since its release. Rockstar was a seminal work in mainstream Hindi film industry, influencing how a film would be made about musicians. It also introduced India to rock music and a rockstar that was accessible and transcendent. The film took the roots of India’s rock movement in the nineties and spun a story of how a simple boy from New Delhi could go on to achieve worldwide fame and acclaim.
At the 57th Filmfare Awards, Rockstar received 10 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Imtiaz Ali), Best Female Debut (Nargis Fakhri), and won Best Actor (Ranbir Kapoor), Best Music Director (AR Rahman) and Best Playback Singer - Male (Mohit Chauhan) for the song Jo bhi main.
Music: AR Rahman
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil
Singers: Mohit Chauhan
*ing: Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Film: Rockstar (2011)