Composer Lalit Pandit from the Jatin-Lalit duo reflects, in this amazing in-depth conversation with Subhash K Jha, about creating the soundtrack for the iconic Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, which released in 1993.
Lalit, how do you look back on the experience?
KHKN(Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na), considered a small film at the time of release with Shah Rukh Khan; this was one of his earlier starting point film. And a South Indian girl, Suchitra. It had newer composers, Jatin-Lalit helming the music department with the veteran Majrooh Sultanpuri and a new producer named Vikram Mehrotra. This was a film being directed by Kundan Shah an actual genius who was embarking on making a mark with a commercially successful film! This was actually a new team working together.
What was your reaction when you first heard the plot?
When my brother Jatin and I heard the story from Kundan Shah, it sounded very interesting as it was music-based. That sounded very challenging and interesting. Kundan mentioned about young friends coming together to form a music band that wanted to make a headstart to make some money. Jatin and I had loved the narration that Kundanji had given at his office and it was very exciting to start off work on its music situations.
The great Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote the lucid lyrics?
Majrooh Saab was present during the narration and he was excited too working on these song situations. It was a tightly budgeted film for all of us. But the spirit in the team was great and sometimes that matters the most for creators.
Kundan Shah was a great motivator for all his co-workers?
Kundanji was right on target convincing and making everyone feel excited to work for the film and take this forward. It is one of the most important aspects of a director to make his crew or team feel happy about their work in the film and guide them and encourage them to give their best and Kundanji in his simple style. Both me and Jatin went on to work on the song situations.
What was the work method to compose those lilting songs?
It was decided with Majrooh Saab that we would make the tunes first, and then he would write the songs on the tunes. I remember we had to work on each situation and compose the songs, as none of the songs we had in the song bank went with the situations, and the music needed to work according to the film and its storyline and characters. It didn’t really have a straight romantic song or something like a general film song situation, so each song had to be designed especially for the film.
So the songs were all situational?
The target and requirement was not a hit song but songs that would work for the film. But of course we wanted the songs to be successful in its audio aspect and also work for the situations in the script, and that was difficult. It was Mahrooj Saab who helped a lot to guide us in the right directions. He would do a lot of communication with Kundanji discussing and then work separately with us preparing songs for the film. This was the second big film that we were doing with Majrooh after the successful music of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, which was loved by the audiences all over. We had clicked together as a team and this was a project we wanted to again make a mark.
Your composition had to have a live-band feel.
The band performing songs and other situational songs were indeed difficult and challenging. But we had taken the challenge earlier in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar successfully. Kundanji had a keen sense of music but in a different way. He went with his instinct and guided us to what was required and also gave us room to go ahead and make the song in a popular format. He had great respect and liking for Majrooh Saab and treated us as friends. Kundanji was simple and would work very methodically as a director. A very hard-working person and that is what made KHKN a unique film and memorable film.
Jatin and you did your fair share of inspired songs in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na?
Jatin was in great form during this film and made some remarkable songs which Majrooh sahab embellished with his words and its meaning. I remember when we were working on the song ‘Woh to hai Albela’, we requested Majrooh Saab to change the word and line बंसी को लकड़ी सदा समझा किये तु Jatin and I thought that the sound of the word lakdi was unmusical and didn’t go well with the sensitivity of the tune. Majrooh Saab heard us patiently and explained to us very patiently why he had written it that way.
Majrooh Saab told us that he wanted to sound a bit crude while saying ब्सी को लकड़ी सदा..he said he didn’t want to sound sweet there, as he had to make it work for the intense situation the song was conveying. He also said what else can he use except लकड़ी?? The word we wanted to change. He said there is no other word that would work here. He said, keep this and remember people will talk about this line and the example I am trying to communicate. His words came true and we met many admirers who praised these lines and its meaning.
Majrooh Saab was king in terms of not only the meaning he conveyed with his words but also the sound the words signified in the tune. He was the only writer we worked with who had the perfect knowledge of phonetics!He thought us about phonetics which would help us always with other writers we would work in future.
How would you rate Majrooh Saab’s contribution to the music of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na?
Majrooh Saab’s contribution to KHKN in its music was beyond measure. I don’t think any other lyricist would have got this done as best as he did. When I was first composing the tune of the song ‘Deewana’…the first song of the film, I remember I was alone in the music room and I was trying to compose. While working, the lights went off suddenly, and all the electronics shut down as there was no electricity. I took my acoustic guitar and started strumming on an A minor and shifting to C…kept doing that, and the tune suddenly started coming, and I sang the some rough words which were-दीवाना दिल,मेरा दीवाना दिल.ढुंडे शमा मेरा परवाना दिल।
I remember I had instantly loved it and thought that I have got it right for the situation. I packed up for the day the moment I had composed the start of the song. When Majrooh Saab heard the song he had liked the word Deewana and said I am going to keep this word, and he changed my lines to कब से करे है तेरा इंतजा़र….I had instantly loved it and when we sang it out to Kundanji he had loved it too.
What was Shah Rukh Khan’s contribution to the music?
Shah Rukh during those days used to regularly drop in to the musicroom for musical sessions. We had got the film KHKN because Aziz Mirza whose was very close to SRK, had recommended us to for music to Kundan Shah. We were simultaneously working for Aziz Saab’s Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman ,so Shah Rukh was around for the music sessions for these two films.In fact this was where our bond got going and we went on to work as a team in several very successful films , including SRK’s home productions later on. Those were wonderful days of our musical journey and will always be proud moments to remember!!
Did you and Jatin ever believe the film’s songs would be popular to this day?
The movie KHKN went on to be loved and remembered by all and I feel it was Shah Rukh’s performance that made the film an absolute masterpiece!! Shah Rukh really carried the film on his shoulder and the music was a huge success. Four of its songs come in the charts on the television the first being ‘Deewana dil deewana’.आना मेरे प्यार को was the second song that made it to number. And the wonderful Jatin masterpiece अै काश के हम होश में अब आने ना पायें। .In this song you see how beautifully Majrooh Saab could write. The song went on again on number one on the charts! Apparently Shah Rukh loves the music of KHKN and also ofcourse the film is his most favourite. No wonder he bought the rights of the film for himself.
Closing thoughts?
The song सच्ची ये कहानी है।, was a difficult song to make as a lot of things had to be told like a story narration happening as was required by the situation in the film. Majrooh Saab guided me to elaborate on the tune longer so that he could justify the wordings. We also had a section where there were dialogue kind of narration happening in the song which worked beautifully. I had always liked Amit Kumar and his voice and I think he did wonderful rendering these songs to our satisfaction and he suited Shah Rukh a lot. Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik also sang very well in the film and it eventually turned out to be a wonderful memorable work of art.
