Published By: Soham Halder

Veer-Zaara Turns 20: Did You Know Its Iconic Playlist Dates Back 50 Years?

The epic romantic saga Veer-Zaara starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji-starrer turns 20 today.

Late Yash Chopra’s modern classic about eternal love Veer-Zaara still etch in the minds of cinephiles, not only because of excellent star cast but also because of evergreen music. However, the songs of that 2004 movie was actually composed at least 50 years ago.

Rejected Tunes Turn into Evergreen Album:

After giving a blockbuster in the form of Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997, Director Yash Chopra took a break and came on board as director for Veer Zara. The legendary director has always been choosy about music in his movies. From Kehdoon Tumhen in Deewaar to Tu Hai Meri Kiran in Darr, the selection of songs have always been top-notch. So how was the iconic playlist of Veer Zara was created?

Credit - X/@yrf

We all know that the composer of the movie was late Madan Mohan, who passed away in 1975. Surprised to know the fact? Madan Mohan is remembered for numerous immortal ghazals in Hindi movies.

When Veer-Zaara was in development, Yash Chopra wanted “songs with an old-world charm” to fit the storyline. After lot of research, the CEO of the then YRF company, Sanjeev Kohli, who was also the son of Madan Mohan suggested some of his father's rejected tunes.

Sanjeev Kohli in his book named “The Memoirs of a Love Legend”, wrote “In 2003, one day Yashji told me that after six years he had decided to direct another film, but a film that needed old-world music that was away from the western influences that had crept into the scene today. Instinctively, I blurted that I had some old-world melodies on tape, now not heard for 50 years. He seemed excited at the idea and very surprised that I had never mentioned this before. His son, Aditya Chopra was scripting the new film. Adi was a man of today and needed commercially acceptable songs. There was no place for nostalgia and emotions here. Only Yashji and Adi knew what they needed. I didn't”.

Credit - X/@yrf

Kohli further added: “Over 100s of his tunes were compiled, out of which only 30 of them—mostly dummy recordings—had been selected, which Chopra found "impressive" and fitted his theme. Later nine songs and two bonus tracks were finalized for the film”.

The selected songs were arranged by R. S. Mani while Pramod Chandorkar, Daman Sood and Vijay Dayal played pivotal roles as sound engineers. The background music for Veer-Zaara was also designed by R. S. Mani.

The Yash Chopra - Madan Mohan - Lata Mangeshkar Combo:

In his professional career, Madan Mohan’s majority of compositions were sung by Lata Mangeshkar. When, the music rearrangement of Veer-Zaara was under going on, Yash Chopra was adamant about voice of the female singer. Although other names were suggested by team, but Yash Chopra backed his instincts to record all the songs by Lata Mangeshkar only. The legendary singer was 75 years old while recording the album.

Credit - Insta/@bollymannat

Kohli shared: “Yashji was clear that only Lataji would sing the female songs and that thrilled me because all Madanji tunes were made only for Lataji and it would have been incomplete if she did not sing them. But at the same time, it concerned me. It would be so challenging for her to sing for Madanji again after 30 years! She was keeping indifferent health and people could be unfair in passing judgment on her. But she found an inner strength to sing as only she can”.

The song ‘Tere Liye’ from the Veer-Zaara album became a favourite of Yash Chopra and he kept it as his ringtone till his death in 2012.