AR Rahman held Irshad Kamil hostage at 2 am, refused to let him leave until he gave him a song; they came up with Chamkila’s most romantic number

Lyricist Irshad Kamil, who is receiving acclaim for writing original songs for Imtiaz Ali’s new film Amar Singh Chamkila, spoke about the circumstances that led to the creation of the track “Tu Kya Jaane.” In an interview, he said that the song was a replacement for another track, which wasn’t ultimately included in the film’s soundtrack. Composer AR Rahman refused to allow Irshad to leave their meeting, even though it was well past midnight, until he gave him some lines that could help him in his process.

In an interview with News18, Irshad recalled the story. He said, “We had finalised a different song before ‘Tu Kya Jaane’. But after some deliberations, it was felt that the song wasn’t appropriate for the scene in question. It was then that Rahman composed ‘Tu Kya Jaane’. But there’s a funny story behind it. I had gone to meet him for a different reason, and it was well past midnight. He told me to wait. He said, ‘I won’t let you leave before you give me a line or two for the new song’.”

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Irshad insisted that since it was already 2 am, he would get down to writing at a better hour. “Dimaag nahi chal raha (My brain isn’t working),” he said. But Rahman wouldn’t budge. “I’m not listening to you. You sit here and give me just one line,” Rahman told Irshad. And so, sitting there, Irshad came up with two or three lines for Rahman, who later went on to credit the writer for coming up with the song in seven minutes.

Irshad recalled another story about how he received a call from Rahman at 11 pm on New Year’s Eve, making a similar request. Irshad left his entire family, who had gathered to watch a special New Year’s programme on TV, and wrote the song “Maahi Ve” from Highway in 15 minutes. In the interview, the lyricist said that it is his decades’ worth of experience that gives him the tools to pen songs this quickly. Starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, Amar Singh Chamkila was released to positive reviews on Netflix on April 12.