Vishal Bharadwaj revealed that he stepped in when Ram Gopal Varma suggested they replace Gulzar’s lyrics with his without telling the veteran first.
Ram Gopal Varma’s iconic film SatyaStarring Manoj Bajpayee, JD Chakravarthy and Urmila Matondkar in the lead roles, released in 1998. music for the film is 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 favourites.
In a recent conversation on Unfiltered by Samdish, Vishal Bhardwaj revealed that there was a disagreement between him, RGV and Gulzar over the lyrics of the song ‘Kalu Mama’. Vishal’s temporary lyric, ‘Gham Ke Neeche Bamb Laga Ke Rum Udaa De’ was an instant hit with RGV, who was not impressed with Gulzar’s version of the song. Vishal said, “When we went to Gulzar Saab for the song, he said the tune is very nice. But (about the lyrics) he said “Yeh kya bakwaas hai (what is this rubbish).”
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RGV rejected Gulzar’s version of the song twice, and he was on the verge of rejecting it a third time. However, they didn’t know how to break the bad news to the icon and hence RGV got Anurag Kashyap to do the dirty work on his behalf. Anurag is working on the film as one of the co-writers. When Anurag told Gulzar to use Vishal’s lyrics, the veteran shot back, “At least learn how to pronounce the word ‘gam’ correctly first.
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However, RGV remained unconvinced and told Vishal, “I want you to record your words in the song. I won’t imagine that (Gulzar’s version), I don’t like that and I’m not inspired by that.”
Vishal agreed but on one condition. He told RGV to inform Gulzar first. RGV replied, “I will tell him when I ask. You record the song.” Vishal disagreed and said, “I will not betray Gulzar.” Vishal then recalled how Manoj and others had convinced RGV to shoot the song with Gulzar’s lyrics and then the song was completed, but a year later he admitted that they made a big error and reverts to Vishal’s version.
RGV narrated the same incident in a recent interview. RGV said, “For me, Vishal Bhardwaj gave a script that was much better than what Gulzar Saab wrote. I said to Vishal, “Vishal, Gulzar saab has soiled it, I don’t think this is good”. Now, obviously Gulzar Saab is such a senior writer, who will tell him that?’
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First published on: 22-10-2023 at 2:33 PM IST