Gulzar had a cutting response when Anurag Kashyap suggested alterations to his lyrics for Satya song; Vishal Bhardwaj refused to ‘betray’ his idol

Vishal Bharadwaj revealed that he put his foot down when Ram Gopal Varma suggested that they replace Gulzar's lyrics with his without telling the veteran first.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | October 22, 2023 02:33 PM IST

3 min read

vishal bharadwaj, anurag kashyap, gulzar

Satya was released 25 years ago. (Photo: Express photo: Tashi Tobgyal, Rohit Jain Paras)

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Ram Gopal Varma’s iconic film Satya, starring Manoj Bajpayee, JD Chakravarthy and Urmila Matondkar in pivotal 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 Unfiltered by Samdish, Vishal Bhardwaj revealed that there was a disagreement 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 with RGV, who remained unimpressed by Gulzar’s version of the song. Vishal said, “When we went to Gulzar saab for the song, he said that the tune was very nice. But (about the lyrics) he said ‘Yeh kya bakwaas hai (what is this rubbish).”

RGV rejected Gulzar’s version of the song twice, and he was on the verge of rejecting it for the third time too. However, they did not know how to convey the bad news to the icon, and hence, RGV got Anurag Kashyap to do the dirty work on his behalf. Anurag was working on the film as one of the co-writers. When Anurag told Gulzar to use Vishal’s lyrics, the veteran retorted, “At least learn how to say the word ‘gham’ properly first.”

However, RGV remained unconvinced, and told Vishal, “I want you to record your words in the song. I am not going to picturise this (Gulzar’s version), I don’t like this and I am not inspired by it.”

Vishal agreed, but on one condition. He told RGV to inform Gulzar first. RGV replied, “I will tell him when I want. You record the song.” Vishal did not agree, and said, “I am not going to betray Gulzar.” Vishal then remembered how Manoj and others persuaded RGV to film the song with Gulzar’s lyrics, and that’s when the song was completed, but a year later, he admitted that they made a big mistake, and reverted to Vishal’s version.

Also read | 25 years of Satya: Film was declared ‘disaster’ upon release, RGV was told not to make a movie ‘glorifying underworld’ after Gulshan Kumar’s murder

RGV had opened up about the same incident in a recent interview. RGV said, “For me, Vishal Bhardwaj gave one lyric, which was much better than what Gulzar saab wrote. I told Vishal, ‘Vishal, Gulzar saab scre**d it up, I don’t think this is nice’. Now, obviously, Gulzar saab is such a senior writer, who’s going to tell him that?”

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