The composer sits in his music room, completely shocked. He has just received news that, after recording two songs for the film, the singer is refusing to record any more.
“Maine aakhir aisa kya kar diya? Do gaane toh unhone itni khushi se record kiye the, ab achanak kya ho gaya?” What on earth did I do wrong? He happily recorded two songs, and now what suddenly happened? The composer is thinking aloud.
He paces back and forth, trying to replay the events of the past few days to see what went wrong. Suddenly, it strikes him. Just a few days ago, he had recorded a short but sad version of that very song with a junior singer. And that was because he couldn’t get dates with the main singer. Word must have reached him, leading him to assume he was being sidelined in favor of a junior singer to save some money.
“Lagta hai unhe galat fehmi ho gayi hai.” I feel like he must have been mistaken. The composer continues talking to himself.
Time to do some damage control. The composer decides to call the lead actor, who is also the producer’s younger brother. He wants to brief him on the crisis.
“Suno, ek bahut badi problem ho gayi hai. Singer ne aage koi bhi gaana gaane se saaf inkaar kar diya hai.” Listen, a major problem has come up. The singer has refused to sing any further songs.
The lead actor hears this and cannot believe his ears. He feels strongly that nobody else can do justice to the song and insists that the singer must be his voice for this film. He promises the composer that he will talk to the singer.
He dials him at home. The singer’s manager picks up.
“Saheb abhi kissi se nahi mil sakte. Unki agle do mahine ki appointments pehle se booked hain, aapko wait karna padega.” Sir is not meeting anyone right now. He has two months of appointments booked, so you will have to wait.
The actor calls the composer back. The composer is eager to know how things went.
“Baat hui unse? Kya woh maan gaye?“ Do you talk to him? Did he agree? The actor recaps to him what was discussed on the call. “Agle do mahine tak koi appointment ki date nahin hain.” There are no appointment dates over the next two months.
The composer is taken aback. “Do mahine!!! Itna hum nahin ruk sakte. Mein abhi kissi aur singer ko dhoondta hoon.” Two months!!! We can’t wait this long. Let me look for another singer right away.
The lead actor is on a different thought process. “Mein do mahine kya, do saal tak intezaar karne ko taiyaar hoon. Kissi aur singer ke saath aage badhne ka toh sawaal hi nahi uthta.” You are talking about two months, I am willing to wait for two years. Moving forward with another singer is completely out of the question.
For two full months, the music schedule is put on hold. When the waiting period finally ends, the lead actor sits down face-to-face with the singer and explains to him.
“Aapki aawaz ke bina yeh gaana aur meri acting dono adhure hain.” Without your voice, this song and my acting are both incomplete.
Moved by the lead actor’s sincerity, respect, and sheer patience, the singer agrees to return.
Kishore Kumar sang Zindagi Ki Yehi Reet Hai for the film Mr. India. The music was composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal and the lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar. The film was produced by Boney Kapoor & Surinder Kapoor, and directed by Shekhar Kapur. The song is filmed on Anil Kapoor.
The plan was for Kishore Kumar to sing all the songs of the film. Kishore Kumar completed the recording for two songs, Kate Nahin Kat Te and Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se. After that, there was a problem getting dates for him due to his busy schedule. Laxmikant-Pyarelal, on Laxmikant’s bidding, decided to use Mohammed Aziz to sing a short and sad version of the song Zindagi Ki Yehi Reet Hai. When Kishore Kumar heard about it, he was furious and decided not to record any more songs with the duo composers. He felt that the composers were trying to save some money by hiring a junior singer.
When Anil Kapoor heard this, he wasn’t happy. He wanted to make sure that the audience could relate to him and his character in the film through Kishore Kumar’s voice. Anil Kapoor decided to wait for a couple of months before he got an appointment to speak to Kishore Kumar. After learning how much Anil Kapoor respected him and how patiently he waited to talk to him, Kishore Kumar decided to come back and record the rest of the songs.
Kishore Kumar also recorded the sad version of the song in his own voice. In the end, Shekhar Kapur made the call to include Mohammed Aziz’s version of the sad song in the film, but the music album included both versions of the sad song.
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Composers: Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Lyricist: Javed Akhtar
*ing: Anil Kapoor
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Producer: Boney Kapoor, Surinder Kapoor
Film: Mr. India (1987)