If you still haven’t heard the Nikle thhey kabhi hum ghar se song from Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki, you haven’t heard a potential blockbuster song of 2023. Lyricist Javed Akhtar is in his element, so emotional and hair-raising are the words. As for Sonu Nigam, what does one say about his rendition of the heartfelt number? He has excelled himself! In fact, his flawless rendition reminds one of the Sandese aate hain song from Border, which, too, was penned by Javed Akhtar 26 years ago. It may sound premature to say so at this early stage (since the song was only recently released) but let it be said that this song, composed by Pritam, has the potential to rule the music charts in the coming weeks or months.
There’s an interesting story behind this gem of a song. Javed Akhtar wrote the song which, not surprisingly, was loved by Rajkumar Hirani. When he was working on the other songs of the film, things did not work out between the celebrated lyricist and the maverick filmmaker. For the next song, there was a lot of back and forth happening. Somehow, Javed’s lyrics for the second song were not what Hirani wanted. Finally, Akhtar told Raju Hirani to have his songs written by some other lyricist as he wasn’t comfortable with having to write so many options for one song. Well, the two parted ways — and this, one is sure, mustn’t have been easy for both the parties.
Anyway, some time later, Rajkumar Hirani and his co-writer, Abhijit Joshi, approached Javed Akhtar for the Nikle thhey kabhi hum ghar se song which they had loved. However, since Javed is known for writing complete lyrics for a film rather than working on a piecemeal basis, he politely refused to part with that song. But Hirani was persistent. “We must have that song,” he told Akhtar, adding how much he had loved it and how very appropriate it was for his film. When Akhtar was unrelenting, Hirani told him that he wouldn’t leave without having that song for Dunki. After a lot of coaxing, Javed Akhtar relented but he had two conditions: that his name as lyricist for that song would be mentioned separately in the film’s credit titles rather than with the name of the other lyricist/s and would stay on the screen for exactly the same time as would Rajkumar Hirani’s name, and he would charge Rs. 25 lakh for that song.
Can you believe that Hirani did not take even a fraction of a second to agree to both the conditions of Javed Akhtar! Yes, the deal was clinched in a split second. Rs. 25 lakh for one song must be a record fee charged by any lyricist to-date! While one would want to salute Akhtar for the lyrics as well as for the fee he commanded, Javed Akhtar himself would like to salute Hirani for his passion. When we called up Akhtar to verify the story (revealed to us by an insider from the film’s unit), the veteran lyricist remarked, “Yes, it’s true, but please don’t congratulate me for the record remuneration. Instead, please praise Raju Hirani because he did not let his ego come in the way of what he felt was necessary for the film. Any other director in his place would never have acceded my request for separate billing, and the unheard of price. He didn’t need to agree because he has a line of blockbusters to his credit. But he agreed to both my demands, which shows how much he loves his film.”
Yes, that is why Rajkumar Hirani is what he is. Film above all else! Ego? What’s that?