Vishal Bharadwaj revealed that he made up his mind when Ram Gopal Varma suggested replacing Gulzar’s lyrics with his without telling the veteran beforehand.
Ram Gopal Varma’s iconic film SatyaIn the main role Manoj Bajpayee, JD Chakravarthy and Urmila Matondkar in key roles, was released in 1998. The music for the film was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, with lyrics by Gulzar. Hits like “Kallu Mama (Goli Maar Bheje Mein),” “Sapne Mein” and “Tu Mere Paas Bhi Hai” became instant favorites.
In a recent conversation on Samdish’s Unfiltered, Vishal Bhardwaj revealed that there was a difference of opinion between him, RGV and Gulzar over the lyrics of the song.Kallu Mama’. Vishal’s temporary lyric: “Gham Ke Neeche Bamb Laga Ke Rum Udaa De’ was an instant hit on RGV, who remained unimpressed with Gulzar’s version of the song. Vishal said: “When we went to Gulzar Saab for the song, he said that the melody was very beautiful. But (to the lyrics) he said, “Yeh kya bakwaas hai (what nonsense is this).”
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RGV rejected Gulzar’s version of the song twice, and he was close to rejecting it for the third time too. However, they didn’t know how to break the bad news to the icon and so RGV hired Anurag Kashyap to do the dirty work on his behalf. Anurag worked as one of the co-writers on the film. When Anurag asked Gulzar to use Vishal’s lyrics, the veteran replied, “At least learn how to pronounce the word ‘Gham’ correctly first.”
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However, RGV was not convinced and told Vishal, “I want you to record your words in the song. I won’t imagine it (Gulzar’s version), I don’t like it and it doesn’t inspire me.”
Vishal agreed but on one condition. He asked RGV to inform Gulzar first. RGV replied: “I will tell him when I want. You record the song.” Vishal disagreed and said, “I will not betray Gulzar.” Vishal then recalled how Manoj and others persuaded RGV to film the song with Gulzar’s lyrics and then the song was ready, but a year later he admitted that they had made a big mistake and went back to Vishal’s version.
RGV had recently reported about the same incident in an interview. RGV said, “For me, Vishal Bhardwaj wrote a lyric that was much better than what Gulzar Saab wrote. I said to Vishal, “Vishal, Gulzar Saab has messed up, I don’t like it.” Obviously Gulzar Saab is such an experienced writer, who will tell him that?”
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First published on: 22-10-2023 at 2:33 pm IST