Chhaayaageet #254 - "Aap mere liye thoda time rakhna."
Please keep some time for me.
The filmmaker is planning his next film to be a grand love story. The music composer and lyricist have been finalized. The music composer had been waiting for a break. He and the lyricist would spend late nights at the lyricist’s shop writing and composing late into the night. They would just identify situations - romance, breakups, sadness - and write and compose songs to those situations, with the hope that some filmmaker might like them.
On such a meeting with this filmmaker, they had played their stock of songs to him. The filmmaker had loved them. That’s how they have become part of this film.
The filmmaker has selected some of the stock songs. Other songs are being composed according to the situations in the film.
One day, the filmmaker calls the lyricist over for lunch. Over lunch the filmmaker asks, “Aur kuch likha hai jo ab tak sunaya nahin hai?” Have you written something else that you haven’t made me listen to yet?
The lyricist recalls a romantic song. He shares the lyrics of the song with the filmmaker. The filmmaker is excited to hear it, “Arre iske liye to situation hai apne paas.” We have a situation for this song.
The musician has already composed the tune for this song. When the musician hears of this, he is also happy. One more stock song is now added to the film.
He has a particular singer in mind to sing the male portion of the song. It will not be an easy song to sing. It has to be sung with a lot of feeling and softness.
He calls the singer, “Dekhiye, ek gaana hai. Bahot time se mein target kar raha hoon ki ye gaana tu gayega. Aap sitting ke liye aayenge to sunayenge.” See, there’s this song. For a long time, I have been targeting you to be the one to sing it. I will play it for you when you come to the sitting.
In a few days, the singer and the musician come together at a sitting of another song. The musician introduces the love song to the singer, “Dekhiye, thoda dhyan dena padega. Yeh gaana passion wala gaana hai. Bahot hi romantic gaana hai. To aap mere liye thoda time rakhna.” See, you will have to give me your attention. This song has a lot of passion. It is a very romantic song. So you will have to keep some time for me.
The singer agrees to do as many rehearsals as the musician wants, “Haan haan, jitna time lagega tum kar lena.” Yes yes, I will give you as much time as you need.
A date is fixed for the singer to come to the studio for rehearsals. The musician has blocked the studio for a good chunk of time. Today they will only do rehearsals. He has another time slot blocked the next day also, potentially for more rehearsals. If all goes well, he might then block another slot for the actual recording.
The musician does not want to rush this at all. He wants to do justice to the song. The lyrics are beautiful. The composition is equally melodious. Now the singing has to be just perfect. He will leave no stone unturned to make everything come out perfectly.
The musician looks at his watch. The male singer should be here any minute now. All the musicians are ready. But they will not be called to action for some time. Once the singer arrives, he anticipates a good hour or more just for rehearsals. It is a duet. The female singer is also in the studio for the rehearsals.
The male singer arrives. Pleasantries are exchanged.
They do the rehearsals.
They decide to do a take and record.
They like the take.
The male singer leaves.
The musician doesn’t realize what transpired. He looks at his watch. His face registers disbelief. What? He looks at his watch again. How is it possible? He asks a few others for the time. Did his watch stop working? Is he in a time warp?
The male singer came, did the rehearsals, recorded the song, and left. And only 20 minutes have elapsed? How is it possible?
Kumar Sanu and Kavita Krishnamurthy sang the duet, Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan, in the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, lyrics by Mehboob, and music by Ismail Darbar. Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai play the lead roles in the film.
Ismail Darbar started out as a violinist for Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan, Anand-Milind, Jatin-Lalit, Nadeem-Shravan, and AR Rahman. He teamed up with Mehboob, who had a pet shop family business. Ismail Darbar and Mehboob composed Chand chupa badal mein, Tadap tadap, Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan and the title track of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, among many other songs, during their days of struggle and marathon sessions working together in Mehboob’s pet shop.
The film was a commercial blockbuster and emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year. The soundtrack of the film was the third highest-selling album of the year.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam won a bevy of Filmfare Awards: Best Film, Best Director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali), Best Actress (Aishwarya Rai), RD Burman Award (Ismail Darbar), Best Background Score (Anjan Biswas), Best Male Playback Singer (Udit Narayan for Chand Chupa Badal Mein), Best Choreography (Saroj Khan for Nimbooda), Best Art Direction (Nitin Desai), and nominations for Best Actor (Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan), Best Music Director (Ismail Darbar), Best Lyricist (Mehboob for Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan and Tadap Tadap), Best Male Playback Singer (KK for Tadap Tadap, Kumar Sanu for Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan), Best Female Playback Singer (Alka Yagnik for Chand Chupa Badal Mein, Kavita Krishnamurthy for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kavita Krishnamurthy for Nimbooda).
Lyrics: Mehboob
Music: Ismail Darbar
Singer: Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy
*ing: Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Film: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)