“I am happy to see Tujhe Meri Kasam re-releasing in theatres” – Viju Shah

This year, one has seen several Hindi films, which released years back, re-releasing in theatres. While some of these films had tasted success upon their initial, some, like ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ (2001) and ‘Laila Majnu’ (2018), were box-office flops that have now seen witnessed the audience showering a great amount of love for them in the theatres.

‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’, a film which marked the debut of Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh, released on 3 January, 2003. The film also marked the debut of Shriya Saran, seen in a supporting role, in Hindi cinema. The youthful romantic drama was a remake of the Telugu film ‘Nuvve Kavali’ (2000), which itself was a remake of ‘Niram’ (1999), a Kannada film. ‘Nuvve Kavali’ had emerged as a blockbuster at the box-office and even won the Best Telugu Feature Film award at the 48th National Film Awards. The success of the film prompted producer Ramoji Rao and director K. Vijaya Bhaskar to remake it in Hindi. The box-office history of ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ is quite interesting. While the film under-performed in some territories, it went on to do record-breaking business in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and some parts of Uttar Pradesh. In many of these states, the film ran for more than a 100 days.

‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ re-releases in theatres today, on September 13. In all these years, the film had not been made available on satellite, DVD or on streaming platforms. The film would, however, release once in a while in some regions of Maharashtra and attract audiences in good numbers. More than two decades since its release, the film is all set to get a nationwide release again.

In all these years, one of the things that has played a key role in keeping the film alive in the memory of the audience is its soundtrack put together by Viju Shah and lyricist Mehboob. While the title song remains the most popular track from the album, the rest of the songs, too, have got their due.

As the film gears up for a re-release, composer Viju Shah shares his memories of composing the songs and putting together the background score for this film which has aged quite well.

When Ramoji Rao and K Vijay Bhaskar decided to remake ‘Nuvve Kavali’ as ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’, they did not use the songs from the Telugu film. Instead, they got you on board to compose a fresh soundtrack for the film. How was the process of working with this team for the first time?

It was a very enjoyable process. It was a fun film with strong emotions and well-written comedy. Both Ramoji Rao ji and K Vijay Bhaskar ji had a very good sense of music. I was working with them for the first time. We never faced any hindrance. Everything fell into place quickly. Apart from the songs, I also did the background score for the film. The songs were not done in one go. Vijay ji would come to Mumbai, select the songs and finalize the shooting schedule. Most of my interactions on this film happened with him. Vijay ji was from the South but he was comfortable speaking in Hindi. He had complete clarity on the kind of music he wanted. He was a part of all the music sittings. I met Ramoji Rao ji once when I went to Hyderabad. He gave us a lot of freedom and was happy with the way the music shaped up. I am happy to see the film re-releasing in theatres.

Is there any interesting trivia about the songs which you would like to share?

There is a song in the film called ‘Thodi Si Diwani’, which has been sung by Alka Yagnik. We had done another song for that situation which was sung by Jaspinder Narula. I preferred that song over ‘Thodi Si Diwani’. Even Vijay ji had approved of it. However, the production house did not like it as much and wanted me to make something else. Vijay ji came back to Mumbai and we made ‘Thodi Si Diwani’.

‘Main Rook Loon Tere’, which was the sad song on the album, was supposed to be sung by Chithra ji. I got it dubbed by Vaishali so that it could be shot. Due to health reasons, Chithra ji could not come and dub for the song. Since Vaishali had sung it so well, we decided to retain her voice. The first song we recorded for the film was ‘Koi To Meri Fariyaad’ as it had to be shot first.

The film also had the song ‘Azaadi Hai Pyaari’, which was the first duet sung by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal.

Yes, that’s right.

The audio of the film released on July 2022. The music of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’ came out around the same time. So, ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ must have been the second or third film which Shreya Ghoshal could have sung for.

Yes, that could have been the case. I recorded Shreya’s voice for a few songs after that, including ‘Deedani’ and ‘Thoda Sa Thehro’ from ‘Victoria No. 203’. Some of the films that she sung for me, unfortunately, never released.

Back then, the audio launch of a film would be a grand event. Do you have any memories of the audio launch of ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’?

The audio launch of ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ was organized at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. S.P Balasubramaniam was the chief guest. I had brought in Javed Ali and Vaishali Samant to sing all the songs at the event. We were playing the tracks in the background but they had to sing live. The male portions for all the songs were sung by Javed and the female parts were sung by Vaishali.

Where were the songs recorded?

The songs were recorded at Aava Studios in Mumbai by Tanay Gajjar. That studio has now been shut down.

One of the things that makes the re-release of ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ special is the fact that Ramoji Rao would never release the satellite, DVD or streaming rights of his films. He was one of the few producers who was particular about his films being screened exclusively in the theatres. The music was released on Mayuri Audio, a label owned by Ramoji Rao. Even the songs were not available online for the longest time.

Now, the songs are available on streaming platforms. I think some other company has the rights now.

Mehboob wrote all the songs for the film. How was the experience of working with him?

‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ was the first and last time we worked together. The makers told me they wanted Mehboob and me to work on this film together. I had a wonderful time working with him. His lyrics added a lot of value to the songs. I hope we can collaborate on something soon.

The album had a lot of variety. While ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ was a romantic steeped in Indian melody, ‘Azaadi Hai Pyaari’ was a fun, youthful number. ‘Chhoti Chhoti Khushiyaan’ was a celebration song and ‘Koi To Meri Fariyaad’ was a song centred around a college event. ‘Main Rok Loon Tere’ was a melancholic song and ‘Thodi Si Diwani’ was a spirited song from a female perspective.

It was like a buffet. In one film, the audience got to listen to songs of different moods. The songs were picturized very well. It was a light-hearted, feel-good film. We had to make the songs keeping the essence of the film in mind.

The film depicted youthful romance and featured new actors. Did that put some pressure on you to deliver hit music?

I have learnt an important lesson from Anand Bakshi saab. Do your work sincerely and don’t think about the outcome. Nobody knows what will work. I also did ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ in 1997 which had newcomers. I don’t take any kind of pressure while working. I just try to be honest with my work. As far as ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ is concerned, one must give a lot of credit to Vijay Bhaskar ji for getting the best out of his team.

Ramoji Rao passed away earlier this year.

Yes, it was very unfortunate. He was a visionary man and did so much for different industries. His life has been very inspiring. I am glad I could work with him on this film.

You are now collaborating with Rajiv Rai after several years.

Yes, I have collaborated with him on two films recently, ‘Zora’ and ‘Zora Zorawar’. The shoot of ‘Zora’ is complete and Rajiv is working on ‘Zora Zorawar’ at the moment. The two films are connected to each other and should release within a gap of a few months. Each film has one song. Both the songs we have done have been sung by Palak Muchhal.