Visited Banaras ghats to seek inspiration for Raanjhanaa: Irshad Kamil

For the lyrists, from writing during a vacation and travelling to Banaras to indulging in good food, there’s a lot of fond memories associated with the film

Penning the songs for Raanjhanaa was quite a journey for lyricist Irshad Kamil. From writing during a vacation and travelling to Banaras to seek inspiration to indulging in good food, there are a lot of fond memories associated with the film. Sharing his most challenging song, Kamil says, “There is a situation in the film where a song is picturised while marriage preparations are on. The director was sure that he didn’t want a typical marriage track. So, I cracked the idea of mukrees, a form of writing invented by Amir Khusrow (late poet-singer). And that resulted in Ay Sakhi.“

Visited Banaras ghats to seek inspiration for Raanjhanaa: Irshad Kamil

Irshad Kamil

Sharing the kind of research that went behind penning such versatile tracks, Kamil says, “I visited the Banaras ghaats to get the feel of the Ganga. I also interacted with the people there and realised ‘Banarasiya Bana Rasiya’.”

Talking about his most special track from the film, Kamil says, “It’s Nazar Laaye Na. My wife Tasveer and I were holidaying when one late evening I got the call from Rahman sir’s studio that they’d mailed me the composition and had to record the song yeh next day with the lyrics. We had sightseeing plans for the next day. So I woke up at 5am, finished the song by 8am and went sightseeing at 9am. It was quite an experience.”