The Making of "Kyon Hawa Aaj Yun Gaa Rahi Hai" (VEER-ZAARA) Video
30 August 2011
The music of Veer-Zaara was a unique endeavour probably for the first time ever in the world of music.
Many tunes made by Madan Mohanji over the years remained unused for many reasons… if it was a tune made for a specific song for a film, the film may have been shelved, the recording cancelled, the composer himself or the director may have opted for an alternative tune for situational reasons, and thus the tune with dummy words meant for the specific song remained unused.
Often, a tune struck Madanji, but had no immediate use and he wished to keep it for future use… he either just hummed the tune, played it on harmonium or piano, or just sang some dummy words as they struck him.
This was an ongoing process from 1950 till 1975, but in those days the facilities to record one's voice spontaneously did not easily exist. There were no easy recording devices, cassettes, portable mikes etc. So, often, if a tune struck Madanji when he was out, he would try and store it in his memory till he could somehow reach his music room and record it on a handy spool, most often, in the hurry, erasing an earlier lot. Thus, many such tunes have been lost.
The few that he managed to record were found on his spools, but not in good condition, some half erased, some overlapping each other, and more than anything else, the spools themselves had been damaged in the 3 decades since his death.
Veer-Zaara was the result of using 13 of such many tunes that were located, each composed in a different time span, under varied circumstances, each with a unique story.
Along with the Veer-Zaara audio CD, a special CD called the Making Of The Music was also released which featured excerpts of Madanji's original compositions, fused with the final recordings, to demonstrate the process of recreation to suit the requirement of Veer-Zaara situations. This CD was also included in the TERE BAGAIR set.
We have recently also added to the website the 13 original unedited compositions by Madanji as were initially found on his tapes, from which the 11 songs of VEER-ZAARA were recreated.
Madanji had composed a tune with dummy words "Guzar jo gaya main kahin se", meant to be a sad haunting tune. When this tune was presented as a dummy to Yashji by Sanjeev, he had written the dummy words to it, as, "Yun Hawa Aaj Kyun Gaa Rahi Hai", instinctively adapting it to a song of nature and waiting for one's beloved.
The tune was one of the first few to be selected from various unused tunes of Madanji, and was built into the story as a dream sequence, which marks the beginning of the film.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar chose to use some of the original thoughts from the dummy recording and turned it around to "Kyun Hawa Aaj Yun Gaa Rahi Hai", and added his own expertise in the antras.
This was the first song of Veer-Zaara to be recorded and arranger R.S.Mani put together an impressive orchestra for it including Manohari Singh and other musicians who had earlier played with Madanji in his lifetime. Flutes, santoor, sitar, strokes and a full string section added to the grandeur of the interludes.
The opening prelude to the song was based on yet another unused tune of Madanji, including the alaaps by Lataji.
Sonu Nigam was the obvious choice as male singer as the melody, especially the antras, needed the modulations which he was adept at.
The scale change at the end of the song culminating in Lataji's alaaps, were to create the dramatic effect as per the situation in the film where the hero wakes up from his dream with a start.
Yashji shot this song in his characteristic style in gorgeous locales in Switzerland, adding to the imagery expressed in the song. He also wished to begin the love legend with an ode to love in his own voice. This was especially written and music based on notes of Madanji's two tunes was added to embellish the introduction commentary.
Since only one antra of this song was finally shot and it was used with the titles in the film, it was never used on television promotions etc. and thus remained less heard and viewed than the other songs of the film.
View the Video of the Making of "Kyon Hawa Aaj Yun Gaa Rahi Hai" (VEER-ZAARA)
Also Check:
Watch the entire video capsule of "The Making of the Music of VEER-ZAARA", all songs, in two parts. Part 1 | Part 2
