INTERVIEW OF JATIN PANDIT OF JATIN LALIT DUO
********************************************

Part 2

JP: Jatin Pandit
YK: Yunus Khan

YK: Jatin-ji, welcome once again in the studios of Vividh Bharati.

JP: Greetings to all members of Vividh Bharati and to all the
listeners.

YK: Jatin-ji, there is one film called Khamoshi - The Musical, which
is considered to be one of the most important films of your career.
It was Sajay Leela Bhansali's film and here also you worked with
Majrooh saahab. Which song of this film is closest to your heart?

JP: Look, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a very noble man and a gifted man.
Though he is young, his thinking is comparable to stalwarts like
Bimal Roy, Mehboob Khan or K Asif saahab. Khamoshi was his first
film. He had heard our music and he wanted to work with us. We only
knew that he had picturised the songs of 1942 A Love Story and that
he was assistant to Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Thats all we knew about him.
When he narrated the story, it was again a very different kind of
story, of deaf and dumb parents. When we started working with him, we
realised his great and deep sense of music.

YK: He is demanding when it comes to music

JP: He is demanding, but as we were new that time, he did not say
anything like that. He selected from our compositions and I believe
the music of Khamoshi is one of our bests.

YK: Exactly!

JP: And in this there is a great role of Majrooh saahab. As the girl
is a Goanese in that film, Majrooh saahab went to that area, near
Cart Road, you might have seen there are many Goanese type of houses
in that area. He made a visit to that place. There is a phrase "tell
me ae Khudaa", he mixed English and Urdu because people out there
speak like this only. Majrooh saahab knew that the film will be good,
whether it will be hit or not that is a different thing.

YK: intense film

JP: intense film, we were only worried that the music should not feel
too soft, there is no hard hitting song in this film, still people
liked all the songs and they like today also, songs like "aasmaan
neeche", "baahon ke darmeeyaan" and "yeh dil sun raha hai". When we
were told about this situation, that the girl is depicting the
meaning to her deaf and dumb parents using indications with her
hands, so we thought to keep long gaps throughout the song, thats why
we have put long notes in this song. (sings) "yeh dil sun raha hai
tere dil ki sadaa".

YK: In this film, you have used western instruments as the background
is Goanese. There is one chorus song, I dont remember the lyrics.
Tell us about that song too.

JP: (sings)"gaate the pehle akele", we put a new style of rhythm in
this song and this was picturised on Helen-ji.

YK: And Helen-ji danced after a long time.

JP: Thats why we chose such movements, and it was a folk based
number, and we had used many vocals and several instruments because
the Universal guys had given us freedom as they had anticipated that
the music will be big. These songs were recorded on the 35 mm tape
due to which there is depth in the songs.

YK: OK, you were recording on 35 mm tapes that time?

JP: Yes, in Sunny Sound had these 35 mm tapes.

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Clip: aaj main upar aasmaan neeche (Khamoshi - The Musical)
Song: gaate the pehle akele (Khamoshi - The Musical)
Song: yeh dil sun raha hai (Khamoshi - The Musical)
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YK: We are now going to talk about the songs of Yes Boss. Your
journey begins with Shahrukh Khan and Yes Boss is another milestone,
Chalte Chalte is yet another milestone. Your contribution is great in
both. Did you change your style while composing music for Shahrukh?

JP: No, actually the thing was that people used to acept melodious
music with Shahrukh Khan.

YK: Yes, like Yes Boss, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Chalte Chalte.

JP: Yes, then Mohabbatein, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Dilwale
Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. All these are blockbusters.
We knew that as long as we would work for Shahrukh, we can create
good music. So, this was a thing that clicked.

YK: And by this time, Javed Akhtar had come.

JP: Yes, Javed saahab came and there are so many plus points of Javed
saahab, like he has good knowledge of tunes and meter. Majrooh saahab
used to say that Javed saahab only knew poetry. We got lots of
chancees to learn from Javed saahab and you can very well feel his
grasp on poetry from the songs of Yes Boss, Phir Bhi Dil Hai
Hindustani, Chalte Chalte.

YK: "main koi aisa geet gaayun", how was this song made?

JP: Aziz Mirza used to whistle, he asked me to complete the tune. So,
we completed his whistled tune and made this song.

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Song: main koi aisa geet gaayun (Yes Boss)
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YK: Till you arrived at Chalte Chalte, your music became more matured
and complete. Whats the reason behind this?

JP: Look, with age experience also grows. One starts understanding
what improvements can be made, what should be avoided.

YK: In Chalte Chalte, Aadesh Shrivastava had shared the music with
you.

JP: Yes, actually what happenned, Aadesh bhaai was also doing
sittings with Aziz Mirza. So, Aziz bhaai told us that he would also
take songs from Aadesh. He was the director and no one would stop him
from doing that. So, we agreed and Aadesh bhaai's song also was
superhit.

YK: How many songs were his and how many were yours?

JP: We made 4 songs and perhaps he made 2 songs. Ours
included "taubaa tumhaare yeh ishaare", which was the most popular,
then the title song "chalte chalte", then "dam dhoorakh dhoorakh".

YK: Whats this "dhoorakh dhoorakh"? Whats its meaning? (laughs)

JP: Aziz bhaai wanted some peculiar words. At first I had
suggested "bam bablam bablam nam nam nam, bam bablam bablam namam
mam", like this. Aziz bhaai said that this had a modern touch and
that this lacked the rustic feel. I agreed with him and Javed saahab
is brilliant in suggesting old fashioned words. He wont take a second
for this. He suggested to use "dham dhoorakh dhoorakh nam nam nam".
This only gave a rustic feel to the song.

YK: And its a very catchy, and it became very popular.

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Clip: prem nagariya ki tum bhi Dagariya (Chalte Chalte)
Clip: taubaa tumhaare yeh ishaare (Chalte Chalte)
Clip: chalte chalte kaise yeh faasle (Chalte Chalte)
-------------------------------------------------------

YK: You have worked a lot with Javed saahab. Any memorable incident
you would like to share?

JP: Yes, in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, we composed a song. I would
give full credit to get approval for this song to Aziz Mirza and
Javed saahab. The song was "tu yaar tu hi dildaar", it was recorded
but Shahrukh did not like it. He said it lacked the energy that was
there during the sitting. So we re-recorded the song. Even after re-
recording, Shahrukh felt that something was missing. We did whatever
we could, there was nothing left to be done from our side besides
changing the song itself. But Aziz Mirza said that if we can put some
energy component in the song, it would look better. Javed saahab
suggested to put "haah haah" during the gap between the beats. So,
Aziz saahab, Javed saahab, myeslf, Lalit, and two more assistants of
Aziz saahab, we ourselves, at around 2:30 in the morning played the
recorded song and during the gaps between the beats, we sang
this "haah". It felt better and then Shahrukh liked this new look of
the song.

YK: thats really great!

JP: It was Javed saahab's idea solely.

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Song: phirun main banke tera jogi (Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani)
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YK: We did not discuss about Kuch Kuch Hota Hai yet. These big
banners and their glamorous productions, working for such banners is
a real challenge. How do you accept such challenges and how do you
fulfill their requirements?

JP: See when we were doing DDLJ, Karan ohar used to be the assistant
of Aditya Chopra. He was very quiet guy and used to sit silently, so
we never expected that he would also become a director. So, when we
completed DDLJ, Aditya Chopra told us that Karan was going to direct
a film and that we should make good music for the film. When we
started interacting with Karan, we realised his capacity, his taste,
and above all his father, who was a very noble, honest and dedicated
man, hard to find such people in the film industry. Yash Johar saahab
had so many qualities. First, he used to be the first helping hand
for any needy person. Secondly, he used to give high importance to
his commitments. He would not mind going into loss after committing
something to someone. He would fulfill his commitment. He believed
that if you hire someone for any work, then you have to provide him
with all the facilities he needs. He used to ask us about the
required studio, number of musicians, singers, etc. He would ask us
about our requirements and never compromised with any of our
requirements. And the same qualities are there in Karan Johar.

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Clip: tum paas aaye yun muskuraaye (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai)
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YK: After Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, you have given music in K3G, Kabhi
Khushi Kabhie Gham. How demanding is Karan Johar? Any special memory
related to these two films?

JP: Look, a director's responsibility is to bring together the entire
cast and take the best from all and complete the film. If the star
cast is small, then the actors are under your supervision. But in
such a huge star cast like Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik
Roshan, to handle all of these big stars at the same time.

YK: When lyricist Sameer came to our studio, he told us that he was
in a dilema which lines to write for which actor.

JP: Yes, the stanzas had to be made really long as there were so many
characters in that song, (sings) "bole chooDiyaan bole kangana...",
this was the mukhra, then see the antara how big it is (sings) "haaye
haaye marjaawa tere bin, ab to meri raaten kaTti taare gin gin", this
was the first phrase, now the second one (sings) "dil tujhko pukaara
kare meri bindiya ishaara kare", then the third phrase
(sings) "lashkaara lashkaara meri bindiya ka lashkaara", then the
fourth one (sings) "meri dil ki duyaa yeh kahe teri joDee salaamat
rahe", then the fifth one (sings) "o sajan ji o sajan ji kuchh socho
kuch samjho meri baat ko".

YK: So many songs in one song

JP: Because there are so many characters. We had to divide among all
characters, so there were so many phrases in the song.

YK: pacings are also different. So, we are now going to play this
song now and while listening to this song I hope listeners would
remember the things told by you just now and realise how much of hard
work was there behind this song.

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Clip: bole chooDiyaan bole kangana (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham)
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YK: There are two song that I wanted to mention earlier also, one
is "aati kya Khandala" from Ghulam and the other one is the qawwaali
from Sarfarosh. The qawwaali had come after a long time and on the
other hand the Khandala song was also a novel comcept. Two different
ends of music are these two songs. Tell us about both of them.

JP: First I will tell you about the qawwali. I have little knowledge
of qawwaali. I have learnt about qawwali from my elder brother. So,
Aamir Khan told us to make the title track in such a way that it lays
the foundation for the film. We asked him if he had any idea. Then he
suggested to put a good qawwaali. I got into it fully and you might
be knowing that composing a qawwali is a tough job.

YK: Very true

JP: Its a specialised job, so it was written, we also worked hard for
the music. While deciding the singers, we raised the point that we
should go for singers whose foundations are real good. So, we told
Sonu Nigam about the qawwali, he liked it and gave some suggestions
also. Then we called Roop Kumar Rathod and made him sing this
qawwaali. Generally, any song that is for the titles or played in the
background does not become much popular as people ignore such songs.
But this qawwali was so much appreciated that even today people aks
us about this qawwaali.

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Clip: zindagi maut na ban jaaye (Sarfarosh)
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JP: Reagrding "aati kya Khandala", there was some idea in Aamir's
mind that one song should be such that it has a 'Tapori' touch, with
modern beats. Then I and Lalit thought about it a lot. Then one day
Aamir hummed a small line. We liked it. We developed from that and
this song was made. It had a different pattern, words were very
different. But we still wanted to give a very different look. So, we
requested Aamir to sing this song himself. At first he was reluctant
to sing. But Mukesh Bhatt also forced him to sing. Then when we
started rehearsing the song, he took it so seriously that he got it
by heart to full perfection. When after final rehearsal, we recorded
the song and everything was OK, Aamir called us and said that he
wanted to sing the song once more (both laughs). We said that
everything is OK, but he believed that he could sing better if given
one more chance. So, we dubbed his voice once again.

YK: an amazing song indeed!

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Clip: aati kya Khandala (Sarfarosh)
-----------------------------------

YK: Then the Jagjit Singh number of Sarfarosh.

JP: Yes, it was a ghazal. In films, ghazals are very rare these days.
John Mathew saahab said that there is a situation where a ghazal can
be put and that we should compose a ghazal for this film. We made
around 7 or 8 ghazals out of which he liked few. We even a recorded a
ghazal in Bhupinder saahab's voice. Finally, we made this ghazal that
Aamir also liked. Then it came to decide the singer. It was decided
to go for the best ghazal singer of the day. Thus, Jagjit Singh was
chosen for this ghazal and it was very popular.

YK: On Vividh Bharati, we receive a hell lot of requests for this
ghazal even today and its one of the best compositions.

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Clip: hoshwaalon ko Khabar kya (Sarfarosh)
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YK: You have worked in two films of Kunal Kohli - Hum Tum and Fanaa.
I would like to discuss first about Hum Tum and then about Fanaa. And
also tell us your experience to work with Prasoon Joshi, as he came
from the ad world and a very different type of lyricist.

JP: Yes. There was a very deep involvement in these two films. Kunal
Kohli is a very simple, staight forward and clean person. Some songs
of Hum Tum are from our stock. The title song is from the stock but
it was there in Aditya Chopra's mind which song was to be put where.
He had his music bank and he asked Kunal Kohli to go through his
bank. He listened to the tunes and he liked very much. And then he
introduced Prasoon Joshi to us. We did not have any idea about him.
Look, a lyricist's job is not just write the songs and go away. Its
the lyricist who has to become a bridge between the music director
and the director.

YK: Very true

JP: He should fulfill the requirement of the director keeping note of
the music director. You will get many good writers but very few
people fulfill this requirement. Today Sameer saahab is capable of
doing this. And also Javed saahab. In fact if Javed saahab writes
something very good, he has the ability to convince the director
about it. And Prasoon Joshi, as he was not writing for films from the
beginning, he has his own different style of writing which is very
fresh. He has a different approach as we have been listening to his
songs. He is very committed. In spite of his busy schedule, he
completes the songs on time, especially for the Yash Raj banner. In
Hum Tum, for the title song, we did not have to sit with him. We just
gave him the tune and we did not know what he would write. Prasoon
Joshi, Aditya Chopra and Kunal Kohli sat in their office and wrote
the complete song and came to us. When we heard the song, I cant tell
you how good we felt about the song. The work that I take from a
writer in 6/7 hours, they had come with the same standard as it is.

YK: This was the first song of Hum Tum that you composed?

JP: No, this was the last one.

YK: And what about the song that has dialogues by Saif and Rani?

JP: That was the first song.

YK: Prasoon Joshi had once told us that those dialogues were added
later on in the song.

JP: yes, correct.

YK: How did you fit that in the song?

JP: When the song was completed, there were gaps, so Prasoon wrote
some lines. We counted the times the lines get repeated. And Saif Ali
Khan himself plays the guitar, so he had the idea. Based on these
countings, we left space and they kept on saying those words and we
kept them as applicable and the song moved on.

YK: A very different type of song indeed!

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Song: laDkee kyun na jaane kyun (Hum Tum)
-----------------------------------------

YK: Now coming to Fanaa, how did you make "chaand sifaarish"? From
the very beginning to the end, its really amazing, each and every
aspect is just fantastic. Tell us about this song.

JP: We made this song at Saleem Suleiman's place. They are music
directors as well. In the beginning, we did not think about that
rhythm. But when Saleem Suleiman told us about that rhythm, we liked
it and told Kunal Kohli that this song could be done in this rhythm
as well. Its a slow qawwaali rhythm. Both Kunala nd Aditya liked the
rhythm and we developed it. And its due to this rhythm that the song
appeared to be so fresh.

YK: After such a long time, a song with such a strong rhythm has come.

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Song: chaand sifaarish jo karta hamaari (Fanaa)
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YK: And the song with tongue twisters, how it was made? It was a very
different song as this type of tongue twister song was not made
earlier. Did you know that all 5 songs of Fanaa would become so much
popular? Be it "chaand sifaarish" or the tongue twister, or "yeh
saazish hai boondon ki", or "des mera rangeela"? Were you aware that
you were doing such a great job?

JP: If one is doing some good work, he is naturally aware of it. And
when there is such a big banner, and actors like Aamir and Kajol, it
had to be good. Yash Raj never compromises on any aspect, be it music
or sets, and now they have their own studio, all songs were recorded
in their studio only.

YK: There is a film which was not much talked about but the songs are
very nice. Its Haasil. How close are its songs to your heart?

JP: You have pointed out a very good thing. We had made that music
very much from our heart because we were free at that time and
Tigmanshu Dhulia approached us for that film. e became very good
friends after that. He told us he wanted good music as his film was
not a big budget film. If music is good, then it can pull a small
film also. We did our best. There is a classical based song in that
film on Raag Baageshri which is one of my favourite songs. And to
talk abnout its singer, it was the holy month of Ramzan and the
singer was doing Rozaa. He sang it without drinking a drop of water
the entire day. I love this song, but the song is not so popular. And
the popular number of this film is "aankhen bhi hoti hai dil ki
zubaan". There is a qawwali also in this film. But I would like you
to play that classical based song.

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Song: ab ghar aaja piyaa more aaja (Haasil)
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YK: Dont you think that its time to explore your singing talent as
well?

JP: (laughs) I have told you in the very beginning also that I get
very much satisfaction in composing. Of course, I wont mind if
someone asks me to sing, I do good stage performance also, and I have
got appreciation whenever I have performed on stage.

YK: I have seen you as a judge in a music competition on a TV
channel. The way you advise the contestants, at some places, you have
sung also to explain them, and sometime you have scolded also. How
was this experience?

JP: It was a very good experience as I got to know the thinking
process of other music directors like Ismail Darbar, Aadesh
Shrivastava, Himesh Reshammiya. In normal life, so many music
directors cannot get together at the same time and due to this show,
we have sat together for months.

YK: And now before we wind up, what would you like to say straight
from your heart?

JP: I would request the people that they listen to the songs of my
younger brother Lalit, who is working on his own these days. He is
also brilliant. I wish all the best to all my listeners. I wish that
all sorrows end in this world and every home sees the day of
prosperity. People keep loving music which will definitely bring
prosperity.

YK: It was really great talking to you. Thank you very very very very
much.

JP: Thanks a lot.

THE END