“We worked on the music of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge for months” – Lalit Pandit

‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, one of the most successful and loved films in the history of Hindi cinema, completes thirty years of its release today. Released on 20 October 1995, the film marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra and featured Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles. The music of the film, put together by composer duo Jatin – Lalit and lyricist Anand Bakshi, played a key role in ensuring the film finds a permanent place in the hearts of its audience.

On the 30^th anniversary of ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, Lalit Pandit, who composed all the songs of the film along with brother Jatin Pandit, shares his memories of the film, the enduring quality of the film’s music, rapport with Aditya Chopra, bond with Lata Mangeshkar, collaborating with Anand Bakshi and more.

What, do you think, made the music of ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ so special?

A film like ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ happens once in a lifetime. Aditya Chopra’s faith and conviction made all the difference. He had a great sense of music, had complete clarity about what he wanted and gave us enough time and space to do our best. He picturised the songs very beautifully as well. He himself composes tunes and writes very well. Sometimes, he would hum a tune to give us an idea about the kind of song he wanted. He was like another partner with us in the music making process.

‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ was Jatin – Lalit’s first film with Yash Raj Films. Did they approach you for this film?

No, we had reached out to them. Yash ji had a fantastic sense of music and we always wanted to work with him and his company. Our first sitting with Yash ji was at his house. I remember the sitting lasted for three and a half hours. Along with Yash ji, Pam ji, Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra were a part of that sitting. At that time, Aditya had just started planning the film and we did not know much about it. That day, they liked most of the tunes we played out to them.

After a few months, Adi called us again. He briefed us about the story of the film. Then, we had another music sitting. In this particular sitting, he liked a few songs, two of which were ‘Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna’ and ‘Mere Khwaabon Mein Jo Aaye’. Fortunately, we had these songs ready with us when he asked us to meet him. He found these songs suitable for the situations in the film and decided to use them. Later, we had a few more sessions and the rest of the songs were finalized.

Pamela Chopra, Yash Chopra’s wife, had sung the song ‘Ghar Aaja Pardesi’ in the film.

Yes, Pam ji was a wonderful singer. The entire family was involved in the process of finalizing the song. As a producer, Yash ji had a huge contribution in the music of the film. Bakshi saab would sit with Yash ji and they would figure out the kind of thoughts one should be using in the songs. The Nasir Hussain family and the Yash Chopra family were the best film families that one could work with as a music director. They had an incredible sense of music and understood the kind of value it added to a film.

This was, perhaps, your first collaboration with lyricist Anand Bakshi. After this, you worked with on several films.

I think ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ is the only film for which Bakshi saab would come with a notebook. He would write 25-30 antaras for each song and would not stop until Yash ji and Adi were satisfied. Bakshi saab added tremendous value to the songs with his lyrics. The film had songs of different moods and situations. He did justice to each song as a lyricist. While ‘Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane’ was a playful romantic number, ‘Ghar Aaja Pardesi’ was a song about a man longing for his motherland.

Lata Mangeshkar sang four songs in the film.

We were blessed to have Lata ji’s blessings throughout our journey. In her last decade as a singer, she sang the maximum number of songs for us. Our family has had a long-standing association with Lata ji’s family. She knew us from our childhood. Hridaynath ji used to learn music from my father. When DDLJ completed 25 years of its release, I requested her to join me and the other singers for an Instagram live. Because of her age, I was not sure if she would join but she did. She, very graciously, joined us for a few minutes. Apart from the music of the film, she spoke about my childhood and the bond between the Pandit and the Mangeshkar family. When Lata ji got to know that we were working with Yash ji, she was very happy. When Lata ji agrees to sing for you, you have to make songs that befit her stature. After DDLJ, she sang for us in many other films including ‘Gangster’, ‘Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…’. In an interview, which Lata ji gave in the ‘90s, she was asked which composer she likes from the current generation. She named us and said that we are doing very good work.

How long did it take for Jatin and you to put together the music for the film?

We worked on the music of ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ for months. We have worked on 11 films starring Shah Rukh Khan. We worked on each of these films in an intense manner. The process of creating the music for each film would take 4-5 months. The music of DDLJ took a similar amount of time to be completed. All the films we did for Aamir (Khan) and Salman (Khan) also had memorable music. Since we would take months to work meticulously on a film’s music, we did much lesser films than our contemporaries. We always emphasized on creating quality music and that is why our songs stood out.