‘Sandese Aate Hain’ was rejected at first, Javed Akhtar reminded Anu Malik of this tune during Border; Anu found ‘no poetry’ in the 11-page song

Composed by Anu Malik with lyrics by Javed Akhtar and vocals by Sonu Nigam and Roop Kumar Rathod, the song won many major awards that year. It also fetched Javed Akhtar his second National Award for Best Lyrics. The film also won the Best Feature Film on National Integration for “instilling a sense of National pride.” The nine minute song was unusually long as per Hindi film music but it evoked a certain sense of longing and nostalgia that clicked with everyone. It was for everyone who had ever lived away from their home, family, and made them hopeful for a reunion. It was filmed on soldiers and appeared in the film at a time when the audience knew that they were just days away from facing a deadly battle, but the core emotion of love made it universal.

Suniel Shetty and Sharbani Mukherjee in Border. (Photo: Express Archives)

The inception of ‘Sandese Aate Hain’: ‘Mera beta ghar aayega’

JP Dutta got the inspiration to make Border from his brother, who was a part of the Battle of Longewala. His brother, Squadron Leader Deepak Dutta, was a part of the Air Force contingent that fought in this battle and it was his stories from the battlefield that planted the seed of the film. JP’s daughter, Nidhi, recently revealed that the spirit of the song took shape thanks to her grandmother who would sit by the radio every day with her fingers crossed, hoping that when they announce the martyrs’ names, Deepak isn’t on the list. “Whenever his name would not be mentioned, she would tell my father, ‘Mera beta ghar aayega’,” Nidhi shared at a recent Border 2 event.

This phrase that she repeated every day eventually gave birth to the song many years later. “My father remembered this episode and he told Javed saab about it. That’s how this song got made,” she shared at the same event.

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‘Sandese Aate Hain’ music was rejected

For Javed Akhtar, this became one of his most popular songs. The poet was a popular figure in Hindi movies, thanks to his long career as a screenwriter, but by the 1990s, he had also become a formidable force in lyric writing. And while Javed was tasked with the responsibility of writing the song, he also came up with the idea for the music.

The initial music that goes along with the words “Sandese aate hain…” was initially created for another film. Anu Malik had once played it for another producer who rejected it. Javed was also in the room when this happened and the music created such an impression in his mind that he never forgot about it. As Anu, Javed and JP sat down to brainstorm for this song a few years later, Javed reminded Anu of this tune, and almost instantly, things started to fall in place.

“He has made many other good tunes as well but with this one… I understood that this song demanded a lot. We had to convey a lot through this song. So we needed a kind of tune which allowed me to write as much, and this allowed me to do that. The lines are short, but there are many lines,” Javed shared at the 20th anniversary celebrations of Border in 2017.

Puneet Issar and Akshay Khanna in Border. (Photo: Express Archives)

Song lyrics read like a script, Anu Malik found ‘no poetry’ in them

Anu found the lyrics of the song to be quite intimidating as when he finally read, it felt like a script that wasn’t written like poetry. “There was no poetry, it read like a story. And I saw the script, running into 11 to 15 pages. I asked when this song was going to end,” he told ANI.

In the same chat, Anu shared that early on, while composing for this film, JP showed him pictures of jawans standing in the snow and that inspired him, but at first, his instinct was to make a love song. “He loved the song but said, ‘You are capable of much more.’ I took a look at the picture again and started crying. The tears just kept streaming down my eyes. Seeing me in tears, he said, ‘These tears will now help you create music. You will now start composing for Border’,” Anu recalled in the same chat.

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Javed Akhtar asked for Anu Malik’s autograph

When Javed handed him the lyrics for the song, he cautioned Anu as he believed that the portion “Ae guzarne wali hawa…” would prove to be a challenge. “After I wrote three long antaras, I felt that the song wasn’t getting a strong conclusion. So I wrote a few lines in free verse. Ae guzarne vali hawa… this was not in tune. So when we met again, I told him that apart from writing the song, I have written something else as well. And since that is in free verse, Anu will need time to compose it. As we were talking about it, Anu had already composed it,” Javed shared on the 20th anniversary celebrations.

Javed was so impressed by this that he actually got Anu’s autograph on the spot. “Javed sahab got up to fetch a cassette and asked, ‘Would you please give me an autograph?’” Anu recalled with a smile, talking to ANI. By this time, Anu was a renowned music composer but he was quite infamous for getting ‘inspired’ by international music. But, in the case of this song, he stayed completely original.

Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Suniel Shetty in Border. (Photo: Express Archives)

Sonu Nigam refused an award as they were not honouring Roop Kumar Rathod

The next task was to hire the best singers for the job, and Anu had two names in mind – Roop Kumar Rathod and Sonu Nigam. Roop Kumar Rathod was primarily known as a ghazal singer but Anu had heard him sing live and felt that he would be the right choice. Sonu was still an upcoming artiste, primarily known for hosting the television show Sa Re Ga Ma, and his renditions of Mohammed Rafi songs. “I told JP saab, that I promised Sonu that someday, I will give him work. And, I wanted to give him that song. It was a big deal,” he shared in the same chat.

This was Sonu’s first big break, which was in the same year as his other big hit, “Dil Deewana” from Pardes. “I had sung a few minor songs for Anu Malik before Border but when he decided to give me a major break in Border, everything began to change for me,” Sonu told Rediff in an earlier chat. The break came almost a decade after his struggles in Mumbai and it truly changed his life. His co-singer here was Roop Kumar Rathod, who was a much senior artiste, and was just as responsible for the song’s success. So when Sonu was told that he was getting an award for “Sandese Aate Hain” but they were not recognising Roop, he refused to take that award.

Without naming the award, Sonu told Zoom a few years ago, “I said I will not take the award. Two people have sung this, but you have only nominated one person. I will not attend this. Those people got very offended. They said he has just started his career and he has so many conditions. In my heart, I knew, this is me and I will be like this.”

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100 soldiers were in tears during Border shoot

Roop Kumar Rathod, in another chat, recalled his experience with recording the song. In a conversation with the YouTube channel Raaggiri, Rathod shared that while they were recording the song, every technician had tears in their eyes. But he understood the true impact of the song a few days later. Before the release of the song, Rathod was travelling in the US and after attending a dinner party at a friend’s place, he was driving their support staff to the nearest subway station. As he played the song in his car, which was actually the first time he had played it in front of anyone, he heard someone sobbing. He turned around and saw that the woman was in tears. She had been living away from her home in India for many years and the song made her emotional. In this moment, he understood that the song was not just for the soldiers but for everyone who missed home.

The shooting of the song saw something similar as Suniel Shetty, one of the actors from Border, recalled an incident during a chat with The Lallantop. The song was being filmed in Jaisalmer and they had almost 100-150 soldiers of the Punjab regiment with them. As the song played, everyone was excited to hear it as a film shoot was a new experience for them but by the end, only a few remained as all the others had walked away in tears. “I told JP saab that this was a hit,” Suniel shared in that chat.

Border 2 has tried to recreate the magic of “Sandese Aate Hain” and it has drawn a variety of reactions. But as most recreations go, this one too, made the listeners long for the original.