Chhaayaageet #251 - "Gaane mein kuch nayapan nahin hai."
There is no newness in the song.
It is extremely difficult for a new song writer to find a place in the film industry, especially when the scene is dominated by established and veteran lyricists.
This is even more challenging when the new song writer wants to escape his illustrious song writer father’s shadow. But the young man believes in himself, and also believes that ultimately his talent will shine through. So he didn’t pay any attention to the talk about nepotism and instead concentrated on his work. One day his success will be attributed to his talent, and not to his father’s.
But the trend in the industry is to not mess with a winning formula.
The lead actor of the film has just come off a super hit musical. When his new film is announced, everyone expects the same team of composers and a veteran lyricist to come together.
The young song writer has done some work with the composers and even written a few songs for them. But as a relatively unknown song writer he has no chance to write anything for the new film the composers are going to start working on.
The lead actor is so influential that even the filmmaker had to renege on his first choice of composers and relent to the actor’s pressure.
The filmmaker has arranged a sitting with the composers and a veteran lyricist to start working on composing songs. The composers propose that the filmmaker listen to some of their stock songs, and if he didn’t like them, they would work with the veteran lyricist.
The young song writer tags along to the sitting. It happens without the veteran lyricist.
The composers present their stock songs to the filmmaker with great excitement.
The filmmaker selects two songs as promising candidates. The filmmaker enquires who has written the lyrics. The composers point to the young song writer.
The filmmaker is in a quandary. Everyone knows the challenge he is facing - How to go ahead with an unknown song writer over an industry legend? Wouldn’t this offend the veteran lyricist? And most importantly, who will take on the mammoth task of convincing the lead actor to give this young unknown song writer an opportunity?
The filmmaker tries to come up with some feedback for the two songs.
“Yeh do gaane achhe hain, lekin woh hi ghise peete jazbaat hain. Gaane mein kuch nayapan nahin hai.” I like these two songs, but the words are too cliched. There is no newness in the song.
The filmmaker continues telling the young song writer: “Aap is gaane par aur kaam karo. Is mein kuch nayapan lao. Phir mein hero ko manane ki koshish karunga, nahin to hum Majrooh sahab ke saath aage badhenge.” You keep working on these songs. Bring some newness them. Then I will try to convince the hero, otherwise we will go forward with Majrooh Sir as planned.
The young song writer is encouraged. At least someone liked his songs. He starts reworking the words immediately.
He writes 15-20 new mukhdas but the composers reject each one of them outright. The new lines do not flow with the music.
The young song writer is at his wits’ end. He pleads the composers to talk with the filmmaker that the song is great in its original form itself. The composers are not too pleased about this. They don’t want to go back to the filmmaker, especially when he has asked them to rework the song.
But the young song writer keeps persisting. Finally, the composers relent and invite the filmmaker back to listen again.
The filmmaker arrives. He is under the impression that he is going to get to hear something new. But he realizes that they are playing the same song he heard earlier without any changes. He loses his cool. He chides the young song writer for refusing to take feedback.
The composers intervene and convince the filmmaker that the original words fit the tune perfectly. They are confident this will be a great song.
The filmmaker accepts their explanation. He tells the team to go ahead and record the song. But he warns them that the final decision will still be up to the hero.
The song is duly recorded. It is a duet. Everyone is convinced of its success. Even the filmmaker has now come around. He is also equally convinced and is now determined not to be swayed by anybody else’s opinion.
The hero is also convinced after listening to the track. The young song writer is given the job to write the lyrics for all songs of the film.
Sameer wrote the lyrics of Mujhe Neend Na Aaye for Dil (1990), music by Anand-Milind, directed by Indra Kumar, with Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles. The song is sung by Udit Narayan and Anuradha Paudwal.
Aamir Khan had come off the success of his blockbuster film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), and wanted to bring together the team of Anand-Milind and Majrooh Sultanpuri for Dil. Indra Kumar wanted Nadeem-Shravan to compose the music however he had to relent in front of Aamir’s pressure for Anand-Milind.
Sameer was struggling to find his footing, and also escape the shadows of his veteran lyricist father, Anjaan.
Dil became a musical hit and the songs became extremely popular. The film was nominated for a number of Filmfare Awards: Best Film (Indra Kumar), Best Actor (Aamir Khan), Best Actress (Madhuri Dixit won), Best Supporting Actor (Anupam Kher), Best Music Director (Anand-Milind), Best Lyricist (Sameer for Mujhe Neend Na Aaye), Best Male Playback Singer (Suresh Wadkar for O Priyaa Priyaa), Best Female Playback Singer (Anuradha Paudwal for Mujhe Neend Na Aaye).
Lyrics: Sameer
Music: Anand-Milind
Singers: Udit Narayan, Anuradha Paudwal
*ing: Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit
Director: Indra Kumar
Film: Dil (1990)