“Haan Magar will connect with anybody who has experience the emotion called love” – Sahil Sultanpuri – Planet Bollywood

As a lyricist, Sahil Sultanpuri is writing the kind of songs that remain etched in the listeners’ mind for a long time. In a career spanning two decades, Sahil has written songs that have been rendered by the likes of Asha Bhosle, Hariharan, Kumar Sanu, Shankar Mahadevan, Sneha Khanwalkar, Arijit Singh, Harshdeep Kaur and Saket Singh, among others. He is the man behind numerous hit songs including the chartbuster ‘Akhiyaan Milavanga’ from the 2019 release ‘Commando 3’.

Sahil’s poetry can be heard in ‘Haan Magar’, a recently released single that has been distributed by Zee Music Company. It is a breezy romantic number that benefits greatly from the thoughtful lyrics which Sahil has penned. The song has been composed by Meet Handa and sung by newcomer Naveen Arora.

Talking about the journey behind the song, the maverick lyricist says, “Naveen, who has sung this song, is a very talented singer. He was looking for a song that would do justice to his abilities as a singer and show his range as a performer. He got in touch with Meet Handa who, in turn, reached out to me for writing the lyrics for the song. Once I met Naveen and got an idea about the kind of song he wanted to sing, I embarked upon the process of writing the lyrics. ‘Haan Magar’ will connect with anybody who has experience the emotion called love.”

‘Haan Magar’ is one of those songs that exhibit a perfect balance between heartfelt lyrics, a melodious tune and sharp rendition. The song, which came out just a few days back, is doing well on the music charts and has been shared and appreciated by many notable people from the industry as well. The song also marks yet another collaboration of Sahil with Meet.

Elaborating on the same, he says, “Around 8-9 years, I met Meet for the first time. He was working on creating a single that was to be recorded in the voice of Kumar Sanu ji. We worked on the song and it shaped up very well. Collaborating with Sanu da on that track was a very memorable experience as well. The song was called ‘Usse Dekh Kar Aisa Lagta Hai’. Meet is a gifted composer and we have been working with each other constantly. We are next working on a film called ‘Dhaak’ which has Ruslaan Mumtaz, Sheena Shahabadi, Avinash Wadhawan and Vaishnavi McDonalds in principal roles.”

Working on ‘Haan Magar’ was a special experience for Sahil as he got the opportunity to write the lyrics first. In today’s times, the tune is created first on most occasions and then, the lyricist is asked to fill it up with words. With this single, however, words came into the picture first.

“This was one of the first instances where a song was written first. I don’t know why most composers today are not open to the idea of getting the lyrics written first. Back in the day, that was not the case. Most of the legendary composers from the golden era of Hindi cinema had a great amount of respect for poets and would start composing once they get the lyrics in their hands. When a poet or a lyricist writes without being tied to a tune, magic happens”, he says.

Sahil cherishes the experience of working with the entire team of ‘Haan Magar’. While the song has been released by Zee Music Company, the music video has been written, produced and directed by Sunil Dosani. The choreography has been done by Ashwin Masterji and the camerawork has been handled by Suraj Kurade.