Lalit Pandit, of the great composing duo Jatin-Lalit, speaking to Subhash K Jha, remembers the brilliant lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri including his work on Sanjay Leels Bhansali’s Khamoshi: The Musical and so much more.
He wrote several of your best songs including Bahon ke darmiyan in Sanjay Bhansali’s Khamoshi?
Later in life and as our career went from success to success and I had the honour of working with great writers I realised that there was no one better than Majrooh Sab for writing our songs. He was the most brilliant writer in putting words to a tune. He was a magician and seldom failed in his work. I also later realised that all my favourite songs had been written by Majrooh.
In a way Majrooh Saab’s career re-started with you?
It was my brother and my privilege to work with him. As Majroohsab’s career restarted with our music we started giving one hit music after another and there was a big Majrooh buzz in the music and film circuit. After Yaara Dildara Joh Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, Majrooh Saab went on to win different awards and nominations for his work along with us and he was on top.
He was again much sought-after?
Many composers hence wanted to catch and work with him. I remember once he came to our music room and said that many composers were coming to him for lyrics and that he didn’t enjoy working with them. He also said he found it hard to work so much and wanted to work with only Jatin- Lalit.
That was such an honour!
I felt he loved us and enjoyed the kind of music, the quality of work that was coming out from the JL-Majrooh team! There was freshness in the music and words and it appealed greatly to the listeners. With Majrooh Saab writing our songs, success of the music was inevitable, as he was so great in his work. Somehow I feel our tunes suited his lyrics and vice versa.
Did Majrooh Saab serve as a guiding force to you and your brother?
Majrooh Saab would guide us in how to handle producers and directors and shared his experiences to help us move ahead in life and in our career in music. He was the greatest human being I have met and I realise this ever so more now when he is no more. I loved his stories he told of the yesteryears of music and his interaction and friendship with Lata Mangeshkar.
You and your brother Jatin were the last composers to have worked with poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri?
Right from the first song recording of my life we were lucky to have Majrooh Saab writing the lyrics for our songs!! The song was ‘Bin tere sanam mar mitenge hum’, which went to be a huge hit and perhaps the most remixed song ever so far.
How did that chartbuster happen?
When we were starting our career as Jatin-Lalit we had this small film of the Mirza Brothers to be called Yaara Dildara. We wanted someone very learned to write our songs as both me and Jatin understood the importance of good lyrics in a song. We were struggling to find a good writer which our sister Sulakshana Pandit saw and told us, ‘Majroohsaab ke paas jao, woh khali baithe hain and hasn’t worked for years. Sulakshana Didi had sung many a song in films and was experienced enough to guide us at that starting juncture of our budding career. She had sung songs written by Majroohsaab and knew how great a poet he was.
Did you ask Majrooh Saab to write a song for you?
The next day we were at Majrooh Saab’s house in the morning. We rang the bell and Ammaji (Mrs. Majrooh) opened the door. She asked her who we were and we introduced our names and our wish to see Majrooh Saab. She called out from the door to Majroohsab and said, ‘Koi ladke aaye hain aapse milne’. This was the first time I saw the greatest poet I have known and had the pleasure of working for a decade in several hit musical films.
Why was a poet-lyricist of Majrooh Saab’s calibre jobless?
Majroohsaab when we first met at his house came out and apparently was angry at the world , that’s what I felt. He said, ‘Why did you come to me, no one had come to me to work with me for thirteen years. I am not writing film songs any more.’ I was surprised to hear that! But we touched his feet and humbly introduced ourselves and he slowly gathered we came from a musical family. He calmed down and sat with us and he I felt liked us and said ,‘Main tumhare gaane likhunga.’
For Majrooh Saab to write songs for 20-something composers was no small matter?
At that time I didn’t realise what a big move we had made for our carrier as I had little knowledge of what Majrooh was and how brilliant his contribution was going to be in churning out the best music in that decade of our work together!! Majroohsab had of course very great knowledge of languages. But he was always able to gauge a good tune and he was the best to put in the words on a tune.
Lataji was very close to Majrooh Saab?
This I was able to cross check when in 1994/95 I was working with Lata Didi for different films. Didi had great admiration and liking for Majroohsaab and She was extremely happy and aware of the successful work we were doing together. She seemed happy for Majroohsaab and Lataji said, ‘Film industry main aise logon ki aur kalaakaaron ki zaroorat hai.’ Can’t forget those words and I felt proud that Majroohsaab was doing most of his work with us .
Majrooh Saab was very particular about whom he worked with?
He was known at that time to refuse writing if he didn’t like or agree about something. He was at times temperamental and usually argued if felt harassed. After Jo Jeeta Who Sikandar we took a big Aamir Khan film to Majroohsaab to write songs. Majroohsaab is loved by Aamir and his family of course and they went a long long way back. I remember Majrooh in our first session of music with the producer and director fell in some argument with the producer and after giving them a piece of his mind walked out of a big film! That was Majrooh Sultanpuri!!
Where would you place Majrooh Sultanpuri among the other stalwart lyricists of Hindi cinema?
His contribution and guidance in our music was immense and I can never forget times when I heard big people praising his words in our music. In an incident when we were having a music session at Yash Chopraji’s house with Anand Bakshisaab, I heard Yashji singing praises of Majrooh to Anand Bakshisaab for a song called ‘Aaj main upar aasma neeche’!!
That’s your song for Sanjay Bhansali’s Khamoshi: The Musical?
Yes, but Yashji didn’t know this. He loved the spirit of the words in the antra and was saying so to Bakshisaab. Yashji perhaps didn’t know or realise that the music and song had been composed by the music directors right there in his room. I was happy to realise that Yashji was praising Majroohsaab in front of Anand Bakshi and I never forgot that moment and didn’t even tell Yashji that it was our music. I felt happy for Majroohsab and proud of our work together being acknowledged by the great Yash Chopra himself.
Majrooh Saab had quite an innings in the winter of his life?
Both me and Jatin were very happy to see Majroohsab climb into the top once again at his ripe old age. His work and career reached peaked when he got the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke award. He deserved it the most and told us so in our music sitting. Both me and Jatin had the pleasure of sitting with him regularly for more than twelve years. During these musical sessions we learnt a lot of from Majroohsaab and he was always ready to share his immense knowledge and his various experiences and incidents in life.We were lucky to have him with us and do the work we did with him.
You and your brother had the rare privilege to work with the two legends Lataji and Majrooh Saab in the 1990s?
Yes, we were blessed! Both me and Jatin truly loved Lataji and Majrooh Saab…. We once spoke to Lataji and she spoke to about him very fondly. Lataji once told me Majrooh was her favourite. You should write this!! It’s a statement by the greatest artiste of Indian cinema. Majrooh Saab used to call Lataji ‘Bibi’ the highest possible respect for a lady in Urdu. He was always our guru and there always was great respect and love for him.
