Dream comes true! Thanks, Madhur!

It is like a dream coming true… a dream that has waited 20 long years to take shape. And I am amazed to know how things change overnight! My name going to appear on silver screen!! As lyricist!!! And that too for a film that is being directed by an excellent and enviable filmmaker, and that is being waited for by cinema-goers. Wow!!!

Certainly, it is a different kind of feeling… a feeling that can be expressed just vaguely; a feeling that makes you smile at odd times. It is very different from the feeling when I see others happy at their achievements. At that time, I just feel happy … not merely for them, but to know also that they are doing what existence of human race is meant for- to achieve and then relish its sweetness.

But, now it is not just happiness, it is much more than that. It is exhilaration, mixed with a strange sense of contentment- a feeling that life has denied me in its actual sense until now. That’s why it is so special and close to heart.

It was just one day after I had returned from a fun-filled 16-day tour of South East Asia. My younger brother Ashwani called in from Mumbai, and told me if I could write a few lines for a jail scene. He wanted those lines to be shown to Madhur Bhandarkar by next morning… so, it meant that I had to start thinking then and there. I was obviously tired because of continuous flying, so I refused.

Ashwani was almost shocked… how I could say no to a chance that I badly wanted!! He insisted that it was a life-time opportunity, and I had to keep my physical fatigue aside and apply my mind which was fresher after a refreshing trip. His arguments and continuous insistence won in the last, and I promised him that I would be ready with a few lines in the morning.

I soon fell asleep, but the thing kept churning inside my sub-conscious mind. Next morning was pleasant one and more conducive for me to write something. When I got up early next day, I was ready with something… something that was getting clearer every minute. And after two hours there were not just few lines but a full song. The only thing that remained was to arrange that into words and rhythm. And it was not difficult. I had been playing with words for quite long, and that paid off.

In the afternoon, Ashwani told me that Madhur jee had liked my song very much. It was in the night when I again got a call from him. I had just emerged out of my office to start off for home. Ashwani was elated while telling me that my song was going to be there in the film. And it was two days later when I came to know that none other than the great Lata Mangeshkar was going to render my lyrics. What can one expect more from life!!

I was 14 when my poem was first published in a newspaper. It was Jansatta. Just two years after this, I wrote my first song keeping Udit Narayan and Anuradha Paudwal in mind. I don’t know where that song is now, but the dream that started at that time, had not found any real ground till now.

In all these years, I have written many lyrical poems, ghazals and some songs- silently and secretly nourishing this dream. A phase came when I wrote songs for a couple of plays, including ‘Bhagvad Ajjukam’ directed by Satyabrat Raut for the students of Indian Theatre department of Panjab University. But I never knew that luck would smile upon me in this fashion.

Thank you Ashwani!! Thank you Madhur!! And thanks to those few special people in my life who have always prayed for me and are very happy at this... as if it is their own achievement. I am so lucky to have them.