The Making of "Main Yahaan Hoon" (VEER-ZAARA) Video
28 May 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.
This song became one of the most popular songs of 2004.
The situation was haunting and romantic and probably the only one in the film that could have a light melody which was easy, so could be popular with all ages, since the other songs were heavier or situational.
While many possibly better tunes were available from Madanji's unused lot, Yashji immediately liked this simple melody. The original tune of Madanji, was composed for some sad situation in early 50's, and had a very slow tempo, with sad dummy words... Ab Kisko Kahoon Humdum, Humdum To Mera Begaana Tha.
It was a big challenge to change the entire mood of the original composition to a romantic number. The arrangements were modernized, but once again Indian instruments were used to maintain the old world feel.
The first interlude demanded the use of a traditional well known Punjabi song, recognizable in India as well as Pakistan, as per the situation in the film. It was, thus decided to use the melody of Laung Gavacha for this.
The second melodious interlude was based on another tune of Madanji's, which could make for a haunting song itself.
Udit Narayan was selected for this song, with one requirement. It had to be in a lower scale than he was normally comfortable in. He rehearsed for many days, and despite his repeated requests to increase the scale, he was convinced that he would sound refreshingly different and appealing in this scale… indeed his fans loved his voice in this song.
View the Video of the Making of "Main Yahaan Hoon" (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
