‘IAMA MAD LOVER OF THIS COUNTRY’
After Border (1997) and LOC Kargil (2003), Anu Malik is back to making patriotic songs, this time for JP Dutta’s Paltan
Music composer Anu Malik, who has given three songs for JP Dutta’s brand new war saga Paltan, including its title track, admits that he goes into a different zone when it comes to composing rousing patriotic songs. The Sandese Aate Hain (Border, 1997) composer feels lucky to create music that inspires listeners.
“I am a mad lover of this country. I don’t think that any other composer has created as many patriotic songs as I have. I feel extremely proud and lucky that I have been able to create so many memorable numbers, which make you feel so strongly about our country,” he says.
Paltan is the fifth collaboration between Dutta and Malik — they have previously worked on films such as Umrao Jaan (2006), LOC Kargil (2003), Refugee (2000), and Border (1997), which also saw singer Hariharan win the National Award for the song Mere Bhai Mere Dushman.
However, in the sweeping wave of praise that the song and its singer received, the fact that it was Malik’s composition, was forgotten, he briefly rues. “When Hariharan won the National Award, no one even mentioned that the song had been composed by me. But apart from that sore point, I am so proud of that song, and the fact that people loved it. You had the government recognising and awarding it. I was happy,” he recalls .
Malik’s gratitude towards music and the fact that he was born in India is probably what translates into his avowed love for the country. “I wasn’t very rich. My father had almost no money, and we literally struggled to even afford two meals in a day. So, we struggled a lot when I was young. But, I knew that I have to stay here and pursue music. I had faith in this country and look how it has repaid me. I will always be indebted to it for that, because it made me who I am and more importantly, it kept my faith,” says the composer, also the man behind songs such as Seemayein Bulayein (LOC Kargil, 2003) and Panchi Nadiyaan (Refugee, 2000).
For all his passion and enthusiasm for the genre, composing for Paltan proved to be a “big challenge”, he admits. “It is bound to happen that people will compare your music. So people will compare say the title track with that of Sandese (Aate Hain), or some other song. But then, that’s the challenge. You have to create something new, equally good, in the same space, and I loved that challenge,” he concludes.