‘Immortal’ but also ‘ridiculous’, Javed Akhtar’s Ek Do Teen: The numbers song that sounded ‘funny’ to Madhuri Dixit

However, when he presented his idea to Laxmikant the next day, the composer felt that this would be “ridiculous.” “I think we’re totally going overboard,” he recalled the composer’s words but Javed had faith that he would write the song in a way that justifies the use of the numbers.

Pyarelal, the other half of the composer duo, found the song “immortal” and in an earlier chat with PTI, he said that the inclusion of the days, weeks, months and years changed the feel of the song completely. But, as modest as he is, he believed that there was no musical greatness associated with this song. “The way he came up with ‘din-hafta-mahina-saal’, it completely transformed the song,” he said and added, “Otherwise the melody is nothing really if you look at it musically.”

In another chat shared by YouTube channel Kartik Jaggi, Javed explained the poetic tradition of ‘Barahmasa’ and how ‘Ek Do Teen’ is like a miniature version of the same. ‘Barahmasa’ or 12 months of the year, is a poetry tradition where a woman talks about her longing for her beloved who has been away from her. “A birhan, the one who is away from the lover, describes how every month of the year passed without you. So this (Ek Do Teen) is a kind of a miniature ‘Barahmasa’ where the birhan is describing how she passed every day of the month.”

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Apart from the lyrics and the music, a part of the credit of this song’s success is shared by performer Madhuri Dixit, choreographer Saroj Khan and singer Alka Yagnik. Madhuri had appeared in just a few films until then and was largely unknown in the Hindi film industry. While Ram Lakhan was supposed to be her big launch, Tezaab’s “Ek Do Teen” shot her into stardom even before Ram Lakhan’s release. In a chat with Anupam Kher on The Anupam Kher Show, Madhuri said that when she first heard the lyrics, she found them “funny.” “I thought the song was ‘funny’, like the lyrics, ‘Ek do teen’, you are singing the numbers and it’s a song, like the words are fillers. But when it was picturised. When Saroj ji choreographed it, and I saw it for the first time, then I understood the impact. Then I was like, ‘my god, this is a very good song!’”

Alka also did not understand the poetry behind the seemingly simple lyrics at first. She recalled, in a chat with Film Companion, that she felt like the composers were pulling prank on her as they started dictating the lyrics. “But I didn’t say anything, I was scared of them,” she said. As Alka kept writing, she gradually realised that the song was more than just numbers. “I wrote the second line, the third line, the paragraphs, and I was like, ‘My God, what a song, what lyrics’. And the way it progressed, and how it climaxes… I had great fun singing it.” Alka, in a chat decades ago to Wild Films India, had described it as a “turning point” for her, and said that the song was “like a second National Anthem, because of its popularity.”

Pyarelal also credited the other elements of the song for its success and said, “Also the way it was shot, choreographed, danced, mattered.” He added, “I didn’t think Ek Do Teen would become so popular.”

Madhuri Dixit in a still from ‘Ek Do Teen’,

The famous song released 37 years ago and while the song had everything working for it just perfectly, Javed’s contribution feels a little special here as he turned something seemingly simple into art, and made it impossible for anyone to not sing out the numbers even when they are just counting stars.