Lyricist Sameer Anjaan revealed why Gulshan Kumar refused to release Aashiqui: ‘Mahesh Bhatt promised him…’

But what if we tell you that Aashiqui was never meant to be made into a film, but a music album? Sameer, who wrote all his iconic songs, shared the unknown story behind the movie’s music and its inception on The Kapil Sharma Show last year.

Sameer Anjaan with Nadeem Shravan. (Photo: Instagram/Sameer)

Aashiqui’s tunes were composed by Nadeem-Shravan and most of the songs sung by Kumar Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal. It was Anuradha who introduced the music director-duo to T-Series owner late Gulshan Kumar. Sameer shared, “Gulshan said they weren’t making a movie at that point of time, rather they were working to create a music bank, and asked them record some songs too.”

Sameer revealed that Gulshan Kumar told them if he liked their compositions, he’ll give it a shot and will show them to a producer. If the producer likes them, they might think about making a film.

Nadeem-Shravan teamed up with Sameer and Kumar Sanu, and the first song that they recorded was “Main Duniya Bhula Doonga”. They album was titled ‘Chahat’, based on a word used in this song. After they banked 5-6 songs, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt happened to hear them. Sameer added that Bhatt was so impressed that he asked about the music director and lyricist. “He said I feel like writing a story around these songs. That’s how Aashiqui was made. He asked me to write its title track. I wrote “Bas Ek Sanam Chaahiye”.”

But it was not a cakewalk after they completed filming Aashiqui. “Gulshan called me one day. He said people felt even though its music was great, it didn’t feel like it belonged to a film. It sounded more like an album,” Sameer said, stating that Gulshan left him shocked when he told him that he’s planning not to release the film but only its album. Sameer called an urgent meeting with Nadeem-Shravan and Mahesh Bhatt.

“Mahesh met Gulshan and gave him in writing and promised him that if Aashiqui doesn’t become a record breaking film in the history of music industry, he’ll quit direction. Gulshan also said that the actors were new so it was difficult for the audience to connect with them. Mahesh even promised as a solution that he won’t show their faces in the poster. Hence, Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal were shown hiding under a jacket. Gulshan was so impressed with the confidence of Mahesh that he promised to promote Aashiqui more than any other film he’d done in life. Rest is history!”

Sameer had previously told indianexpress.com that the Indian music industry has undergone a drastic change in the last few decades, and he called that change ‘modern music’. “I believe the lyrical value is changing and deteriorating now and sound is gaining more importance. It is more like junk food as it is everywhere, but the audience needs a new sound.”