Rewind to 2001! Composers walk down memory lane

A still from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

Karan Johar would create a visual portrait for music composers: Sandesh Shandilya
Right from the fact that Karan Johar was creating it, to the stellar star-cast associated with the film, there were several factors that served as inspiration for creating the soundtrack of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Karan would often enact situations when attempting to highlight what he wanted. I recall, for Sooraj hua madham, he read and enacted the [preceding] dialogues, and then the song.

It was easy to visualise the scenes and work on creating the compositions, and that effort went a long way in ensuring that we made promising tracks.I admired [his idea] for the song Vande mataram, where he wanted to showcase the [beauty] of India as the protagonist roamed the streets of London. He had been working on this film for two years, and left no scope for discrepancies when expressing what he expected. This was among my first few projects in the industry. My team and I studied music trends that were popular during the time. While You are my soniya and Sooraj hua madham were immediately approved, three iterations of Deewana hai dekho had to be made.

DCH had many genres: Shankar Mahadevan

Dil Chahta Hai was among Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's first few projects, so we didn't have any inhibitions, because people didn't have preconceived notions about what we could deliver. That worked in our favour. Also, I believe the soundtrack did well because we approached it differently. It had jazz music, as well as Indian, Western and Scottish folk. Koi kahe introduced trance to [listeners]. And while a layman may not technically understand the genres, he can analyse that it is new. Farhan [Akhtar], Ritesh [Sidhwani], Javed ji [Akhtar] and we [SEL] headed to Ritesh's Khandala bungalow to create the soundtrack.

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We had allotted 10 days for it, and wrapped it up in the first three. It was made with ease, and amid laughter. It was among my most memorable experiences. I remember sitting on a swing with Javed ji and analysing how we should make Jaane kyun. We both agreed that instead of being a typical love song, it should have a conversational undertone, where the [characters] analyse the pros and cons of falling in love. Javed ji said, ‘Haan, aisa gaane hona chahiye jo samjhaye ki, jaane kyun log pyaar karte hai'. That was it. Sitting on the swing, we finished composing it within 10 minutes.

Royalties outweigh salary from film: Harris Jayaraj

Barring two tracks - Dil ko tumse and Rehna hai - the entire soundtrack was initially created for the original version, the Tamil film, Minnale. We were told that Mr Vashu Bhagnani wanted to create it in Hindi as Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein, and retain the soundtrack. But, he wanted a few songs with a North Indian feel. So, we made the two additional numbers. But love songs [transcend] barriers of language, anyway. Arabic, Tamil, and English cover versions of the film's songs have been made over the years, and I still receive royalties.

The royalties I have received have been more than my salary for the film. We had enjoyed working on the soundtrack, and that reflected in its music. The only thing I was [apprehensive about] was the song Vaseegara, which was remade into Zara zara. Vaseegara had already become a hit in both, the Tamil and Telugu industries. Apart from its music, the lyrics were also immensely appreciated. So, recording it in Hindi again [posed its own set of challenges]. I was keen to retain the original singer, Bombay Jayashree, who also made [her] debut with the film, and created magic with it.