Pritam on 20 years of Gangster: ‘Still in disbelief that both KK and Zubeen Garg are gone’

Gangster turned out to be your first film collaboration with Anurag Basu. How did it happen?

I had worked with Anurag in TV. He was trying to get me into Vishesh Films, but I was a new guy with no hits. Times were different then. When he was doing Gangster, by that time, Dhoom (2004) released. So, he told Mukesh ji he wants to work with me. I remember playing the tune of “Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai” to Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt. That’s when they hired me. The initial scratch only had the word “nasha” repeating throughout the song. That’s when Sayeed Quadri called me up and said, “Kitna nasha hai gaane mein?” (laughs) and changed it to “Tu hi meri shab hai”. Anyway, the journey with Anurag Basu continues with his next film.

Basu narrated both Gangster and Life in a… Metro to you at the same time?

Yes, we used to stay in the same building. He narrated both the films to me while sitting on a jhoola. I got very excited by Metro because it was a completely new animal. Anthology films were new back then, and my FTII final project was also an interconnected narrative. I wasn’t as taken in by Gangster because he narrated me a linear story. I wasn’t hooked by Gangster until I watched it. I told Anurag it’s completely different from how he’d narrated to me.

We’ve lost two integral voices from the Gangster album — KK, who sang “Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai”, and Zubeen Garg, who sang “Ya Ali”. How much have you processed their losses?

Ya, there’s a lot of disbelief when I think of KK and Zubeen. I’ve worked with KK a lot more, but Zubeen was a very close friend at that time. I used to regularly visit his house in PMGP Colony, Andheri East, where a lot of Assamese used to stay there. Zubeen was very famous in Assam, but he was new in Mumbai. He had sung for a lot of ads and TV serial for me before. Some got approved, some didn’t, but that’s how it was then. When “Ya Ali” came up, he got very excited because Anurag decided to shoot his music video too. After that, he sang a couple of songs for me and moved back to Assam. Then we got a little out of touch.

But you had a long partnership with KK, all the way up till “Yeh Hausale” in 83 (2021). Has processing his loss been harder?

KK was actually my jingle-time buddy. And since I’ve always been a rocker, my natural casting for every song was KK, even in jingles. He was a famous artist by then, having sung for me in Dhoom (“Shikdum”). “Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai” was also a little rock, so I asked him to sing it. I still feel like giving songs to him, only to realize… it’s very tough. The first three shows after his death, I tried to give a tribute to him. I’d sing “Zara Si” or any other KK song. Towards the end, I turned around and saw KK’s picture on the screen. I went into the green room and couldn’t come out for the next three songs because I was so broken down. So, I stopped doing that.

So, this time in the US, when I gave a tribute to Zubeen, I decided I wouldn’t turn around at all. Thankfully, “Ya Ali” is also a more pumped up song than “Zara Si”. KK and Zubeen may be singers to the world, but we all started together. I have the habit of avoiding any close person’s funeral because till you don’t see them like that, there’s no closure. And I hate that closure. I know this person doesn’t exist anymore, but it doesn’t sink in in my subconscious.

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Gangster also started your partnership with Emraan Hashmi. What do you think makes him such an apt face to your music?

Oh my god, Emraan is so good in songs! He’s so convincing that it feels like he’s singing himself. Emraan still went on to be associated with KK’s voice. But after Gangster, there was “Halka Halka Sa Yeh Sama” in Chocolate (2005), which had multiple characters coming in and out and singing. But when Emraan walked in, it felt like he’s Sonu Nigam and Sonu Nigam is him. Akshay Kumar and Ranbir Kapoor also lip-sync really well, but with Emraan, he used to feel the romantic songs so deeply. We had an extremely good run.