Chhaayaageet #271 - "Koi hook word aa sakta hai kya?"
Is it possible to have a hook word?
The filmmaker is a very musical director. He is a composer himself. He is also a choreographer. So when a song is being written and composed, he has already visualized the entire song scene by scene, frame by frame.
The filmmaker, lyricist, and the composer are in a sitting. Many songs have been decided. The lyricist and the composer have written them during their struggling days, just imagining different film situations and writing songs, with the hope that someday some filmmaker might want them.
This filmmaker has not just liked, but loved the songs. He has selected some of the choicest compositions and songs from their library that went very well with the situations in the film.
Now two new songs need to be written. The filmmaker starts describing the situation. The hero is sad. Circumstances have led the heroine and the hero to have split. They have grown apart, even geographically. She is now married to another man who loves her equally. But the first love is still burning in the hero’s and heroine’s hearts.
“Yeh sad situation hai. Heroine ghayal hai, hospital mein hai. Uska pati uski dekhbhal kar raha hai. Aur hero ko bhi woh usi waqt yaad aa rahi hai,” the filmmaker explains. This is a sad situation. The heroine is wounded, and in the hospital. Her husband is looking after her. And the hero is also remembering her at the same time.
The filmmaker looks at the composer, “Koi tune hai?” Do you have any tune.
The composer looks at the lyricist, “Yeh likh ke denge tab hi dhun banayenge.” If he writes something only then will a tune get made.
The filmmaker looks at the lyricist, “Koi hook word aa sakta hai kya?” Is it possible to have a hook word?
A hook word. A specific word or short phrase that functions as the core memory trigger of the song. It is usually repeated multiple times. It is emotionally distinctive and central to the title or the chorus of the song. Most importantly, it is easy to remember after just listening to the song only once. It is like the linguistic anchor of the song.
They start discussing the situation and see if a hook word emerges from that. The heroine’s husband is looking after her in the hospital. They start riffing on the situation and the emotions of the two men, the hero and the husband,
“Pati soch raha hai, kya woh theek hogi na?”, the lyricist says. The husband is thinking, will she recover alright?
“Hero bhi to kuch sochta hoga na”, the filmmaker adds. The hero must also be thinking something.
Something is taking shape in the lyricist’s mind, but he is not ready to share it yet. He is not sure if that is the hook phrase. It is a bit outside the norm. How to weave it into every line? So he keeps his thoughts to himself.
Suddenly another director walks into the room. Important enough to distract the filmmaker’s attention. Something needs to be attended to. The director takes stock of the situation that they are writing a song for.
“Bhai, yeh situation aisi hai na, jaise Roja ka gaana hai na, Roja janeman, aisa udaas hona chahiye,” he says to the lyricist. Brother, this situation is like that song from the film Roja, my beloved Roja, it needs to be sad like that.
The lyricist thinks about it and feels a flash of a thought come to him, almost as if a divine intervention.
He turns to the filmmaker. “Ek baat batao. Agar aap aur mein juda hotey hain, aur mein kahin aur chale gaya, kisi doosre shahar mein, kuch dinon ke liye, saalon ke liye, to kya hum rone waali baatein yaad karenge?” Tell me one thing. If you and I get separated, and say I went away somewhere, in some other city, for a few days, a few years, then are we going to remember things that will make us sad?
The filmmaker keeps his gaze fixed on the lyricist. The gears are starting to turn in his head.
The lyricist continues, “Ya hum ye baatein yaad karenge, ki yaad hai apun khana khane gaye thay? Yaad hai apun Juhu pe gaye thay, phir apni ice cream gir gayi, phir apun ne mitti se uthake, vagayra vagayra?” Or will we remember things like, remember that one time we went for dinner? Remember we went to Juhu, and our ice cream fell down, and then we tried to pick it up from the ground, etc., etc.?
“Haan aisa bhi ho sakta hai”, the filmmaker agrees. Yes, it can be like this also.
“Why not talk some good things?”, the lyricist reinforces.
The filmmaker sees the situation from a different angle.
“Mere zahen mein kuch hai. Mein mukhda likhta hoon,” the lyricist requests. I have something in my mind. Let me write the opening refrain.
The lyricist writes the mukhda and finds a way to weave in the hook phrase he had been thinking of. He presents it to the filmmaker. If the filmmaker approves the mukhda, then the antaras practically write themselves.
The rest of the song is already taking shape in the lyricist’s mind. Aisa hoga na? Waisa hoga na? Won’t it be like this? Won’t it be like that?
The filmmaker loves it, even the hook phrase, “hoga na?”. He hugs the lyricist.
In the next 30 minutes, the lyricist completes the entire song. In the following half hour, the composer sets the tune.
The team is so happy with the way the whole song has turned out.
The recording is scheduled with the male singer. He arrives at the studio. The female playback singer is also requested to lend her vocals to the alaap in the background.
The male singer takes a look at the lyrics. Something about this song is unusual. He reads it again, and again, and then again. This song does not follow the usual structure, where the refrain repeats after each stanza. It is one flowing narrative. Not a single line repeats. This is so unusual, he compliments the lyricist.
Mehboob wrote the lyrics of the song Jhoka Hawa Ka, and all the other songs of the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), music by Ismail Darbar, story, screenplay, and direction by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgn, and Salman Khan play the lead roles. The song is sung by Hariharan and Kavita Krishnamurthy.
Listen to the song carefully and realize that not a line is repeated. Such beautiful poetry and composition.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was a blockbuster musical hit, and all the songs were immensely popular. The film also won Filmfare awards for: 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), 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), Best Male Playback Singer (KK, Kumar Sanu), and Best Female Playback Singer (Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy).
Listen to Hariharan’s live performance in concert:
Also Hariharan’s rendition on MTV Unplugged is equally beautiful:
Lyrics: Mehboob
Music: Ismail Darbar
Singers: Hariharan, Kavita Krishnamurthy
*ing: Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Film: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)