MILESTONE FILMS OF MADAN MOHANJI - VEER-ZAARA (2004)

Madan Mohanji’s 25-year career, from 1950 till the end in 1975 with MAUSAM and LAILA MAJNU, comprised many memorable songs that are still loved today by all generations. But these were all songs he had personally recorded in his lifetime.

In 2004, thirty 30 years after his untimely demise, Madanji’s name adorned the titles of a new film yet again!

Madanji had composed some additional tunes over the years, some kept aside for future use, some alternative tunes which did not get used, others just some dummy notes as they struck him. These tunes were found in his tapes by accident after he passed away… 30 years later when Madanji’s son, Sanjeev Kohli, casually mentioned this to Yash Chopraji, the legendary director decided to take a risk and do something that had never happened before. He decided to base the entire soundtrack of his film VEER-ZAARA on these tunes. There was much opposing advice from associates that these old tunes would sound outdated and would harm the freshness of his big budget film, but Yashji was firm in his conviction. From the various tunes found, he selected 9 to suit the different situations in the film and asked Sanjeev to supervise the music. It was a very daunting task to adapt a chosen melody to the entirely different situation in the film, to keep a balance between an ‘old world’ charm, yet to appeal to the young listeners who were so attuned to modern sounds.

Yashji was insistent that Lataji should sing all the songs, as most of the tunes were originally made with her in mind. She was already 75 years old, and singing much less for the new films but made an exception for this unusual project. Throughout the recording of the songs she would be very emotional on hearing the original voice of Madanji’s tune, reliving the memories of so many years of singing for him and so many memorable melodies created together.

Javed Akhtar wrote fresh lyrics to the fixed meter of Madanji’s original tunes.

Apart from the 9 songs in the film, two additional songs were specially recorded only for the CD as the tunes appealed to Yashji, even though they could not be part of the film.

VEER-ZAARA went on to win many awards including the IIFA award for Best Music of 2004 and became the highest selling album of its time.

Each song has a different story behind how it was created… how the original was sometimes a tune made by Madanji for another film which remained unused, or a tune he had made in 50s and kept aside for some use in future.

We are also giving below links to short video presentations on the ‘Making’ of the songs, in which we can hear the original tune as left behind by Madanji for 10 out of the 11 songs.

THE SONGS OF VEER-ZAARA
All Songs Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

TERE LIYE HUM HAIN JIYE
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Roopkumar Rathod

Video      The Making of TERE LIYE, a video presentation
MAIN YAHAAN HOON
Singer: Udit Narayan

Video      The Making of MAIN YAHAAN HOON, a video presentation
AISA DES HAI MERA
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan and Gurdas Mann

Video      The Making of AISA DES HAI MERA, a video presentation
DO PAL RUKA KHWABON KA KARAVAN
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam

Full Song - Two Parts
(this song appeared in two different situations in the film)

The Making of DO PAL RUKA, a video presentation
YEH HUM AA GAYE HAIN KAHAAN
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan

Full Song - Set to images
(this song was partially filmed, but deleted from the film)

The Making of YEH HUM AA GAYE HAIN KAHAAN, a video presentation
KYON HAWA AAJ YUN GAA RAHI HAI
Singer: Sonu Nigam, with alaaps by Lata Mangeshkar and commentary by Yash Chopra

Video - Edited, as appearing in the film
(this song was partially filmed and appeared in the titles of the film)

Full Song - Set to images

The Making of KYON HAWA AAJ, a video presentation
LODI
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Gurdas Mann and Udit Narayan

Video

The Making of LODI, a video presentation
HUM TO BHAI JAISE HAIN WAISE RAHENGE
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Video

The Making of HUM TO BHAI JAISE HAIN, a video presentation
AAYA TERE DAR PAR DEEWANA
Singers: Ahmed Hussain, Mohd. Hussain, supported by Mohd. Vakil, Javed Hussain

Full Song - 2 Parts
(this song appeared in two different situations in the film)

The Making of AAYA TERE DAR PAR, a video presentation
TUM PAAS AA RAHE HO
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh

Video
(this song was recorded only for the CD and never filmed)

The Making of TUM PAAS AA RAHE HO, a video presentation
JAANE KYON KHWABON KA MAUSAM HAI
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Video
(this song was recorded only for the CD and never filmed)
DISCLAIMER: Please do note that these links are being shared only for reference purposes and as found when added to the website. We do not have copyright on these links, and hence from time to time you may find some of the links not working, in which case since we have provided the song details, a keen listener could find an alternative link / source instead.