Chhaayaageet #85 - "It has to be as big as possible. Bigger than what you think big means."

The filmmaker and his assistant director are on set. The AD, as is the popular term, has been asked by the filmmaker to name his favorite film. He says the name of a film, a cult classic revenge saga, produced by the filmmaker's father close to twenty years ago. Despite being critically acclaimed later, the film had faired poorly at the box office. The filmmaker's father had not taken this well. This had always rankled the filmmaker.

"Should we remake this for the new generation?", the filmmaker asks his AD.

Just then a friend, an actor, walks in on the conversation. After getting a sense of the discussion, he suggests the names of two brothers who compose music.

"You must hear their music", the friend insists.

The filmmaker turns to the AD and says, "This is an all-out action film. Not my style. But this is your directorial debut. So start working on the script."

The AD, well, let's call him the filmmaker for the rest of this story, gets to work. After some time the script is ready. The star cast is assembled after much convincing and cajoling.

The filmmaker then turns his attention to the music department. He asks to listen to some music composed by the brothers. He likes it. He invites them for a story reading.

It's a big risk. A filmmaker directing his first film with big-name stars, and trusting music to newcomer composers. The original film did not have a great soundtrack. But this remake needs to have great music and songs.

The story reading takes four hours. The filmmaker narrates the story in great detail, including mimicking the background music he wants to be played during key moments in the film. No wonder it takes four hours.

The first song they plan to shoot is a Ganapati festival song. The filmmaker explains the situation of the song.

"The first part of the song is the traditional Ganapati Aarti. In the second part of the song, a violent crime takes place. So this is a very dramatic situation", says the filmmaker.

"It has to be as big as possible. Bigger than what you think big means", the filmmaker has specific guidance for the brothers about the music of this song. The song and music must reach a crescendo and give the audience an adrenaline rush.

To prove his point, he tells them that the statue of the Ganapati idol in the song is going to be 35 feet tall. This has never been done before. Most statues in films are 10 feet tall, may be 12 feet. But a 35 feet tall statue? The music and the song must rise up to meet this tall order.

The brothers are charged up after this passionate narration from the filmmaker. A large ensemble of chorus singers and musicians is assembled. In four or five days, the brothers have a tune for the song. In fact, it is a nice coincidence that the Ganesha song is the first song recorded for the film, a nice way to embark on a new venture.

When they reach the set to watch the filmmaker film the song, they are struck by the tall Ganesha statue. For a few moments, people are left with their mouths open to see the sheer size of it. The whole set and everything is big. They have never seen anything like this before. They are just relieved that their song also is going to live up to the situation in the film.

One of the composers has a suggestion to the filmmaker, "When you shoot this song, you must make the hero look very small in front of the Ganapati Bappa idol."

Ajay and Atul Gogavale, popularly known as music composers Ajay-Atul, composed the music for Agneepath (2012), directed by Karan Malhotra, and produced by Karan Johar for Dharma Productions. The original Agneepath (1990), a cult classic with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role, was produced by Yash Johar, Karan Johar's father. It did not have a strong soundtrack. The music of the remake, which included songs like Chikni Chameli, and Abhi mujh mein kahin became extremely popular.

Ajay-Atul were new to the industry, hailing from a middle-class Maharashtrian family from Pune. They had no music background or any formal training in music. They are self-taught, and in their early years started working with local bands as arrangers. They started composing music for Marathi films. At the 56th National Film Awards, they won the Best Music Direction award from the Government of India for their music for the Marathi film Jogwa. This was the first time ever in the history of the National Film Awards that a Marathi film had won the award for best music. The song Jeev Rangla from Jogwa also won the National Award for its singers, Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal. This brought them into the limelight, causing Riteish Deshmukh to suggest their names to Karan Malhotra and Karan Johar, who were wrapping up work on the film, My Name is Khan, on which Malhotra worked as AD.

Agneepath (2012) had a big-budget star cast with Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, and Rishi Kapoor, but Karan Malhotra was in total command knowing exactly what he wanted, leaving no one to feel that he was directing his first film. He wanted a grand and larger-than-life set for the Deva Shree Ganesha song. During the filming of the song, the hot oil from one of the lamps fell on Hrithik Roshan's hand causing burn injuries. Priyanka Chopra's lehenga caught fire but she noticed it right away.

Watch the video of the making of the Lord Ganesha idol.

Music: Ajay-Atul
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Singer: Ajay Gogavale
*ing: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra
Director: Karan Malhotra
Producer: Karan Johar
Film: Agneepath (2012)