This song from Mausam(1976) was written by Gulzar, composed by Madan Mohan, and sung by Bhupinder. The song has two versions, one a solo by Bhupinder and a duet of Lata Mangeshkar with Bhupinder. The solo was used during the titles of the film and the duet was picturized on the young Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore.
The solo version happens to be Gulzar's favorite, is by far the soberer and serene. The duet has a faster tempo. Both versions have three stanzas with different interludes. The Mukhada was taken from a Ghalib ghazal with a slight change. In the ghazal, it is 'Jee Dhoondta Hai', Madan Mohan changed it to Dil Dhoondta Hai., since it worked better for the metre.
This wasn’t the only time Gulzar was inspired by Ghalib. He went a step further in the song Satrangi Re, (Dil Se, 1998), in which he wove Ghalib’s couplet into his lyrics, crediting the source by its name.
This song is the pivot around which the film revolves. It connects the characters in time. the first time when the Doctor(Sanjeev Kumar) is traveling from Calcutta to Darjiling by road where he met Chanda decades ago.
Gulzar in a book told that while composing the interludes of the song Madan Mohan was strolling between his music room and his kitchen. He(Gulzar) had gone to his house for dinner. Madan Mohan was a good cook, he was cooking mutton at that time. During that duration, he composed the tune of this song.
Gulzar was one of the contenders for the National Award for that year. Unfortunately, no award was given to any lyricist that yeat. Similarly, he was nominated for Filmfare's Best lyricist award but lost out to lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi for Kabhie Kabhie.
Madan Mohan had a habit of making 5-6 tunes of one song, he then selects the best out of them. For this song too he made 6 tunes one of which was later used in Veer Zara (2004). Here a clipping is given below, you could see his versatility
Dil Dhoondhta Hai - Madan Mohan sings many tunes for one song
In an interview, Gulzar Saheb said that songwriting is my profession while writing poetry is my statement of life. Since his childhood, he was writing poems, He was also writing when he worked as a mechanic in a car garage in Bombay. It was during his interactions in the PWA Sunday meetings that lyricist Shailendra and Bimal Roy encouraged him to join films. Initially, he joined Bimal Ray as his assistant and later got a chance to write a song in Bandini (1963)under the composer S D Burman, the song that brought him to notice was 'Mera Gora Rung Le Le' from Bandini.
Gulzar’s first venture as a filmmaker was Mere Apne (1971), It was produced by N C Sippy and directed by him. The film stars Meena Kumari, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha in lead roles, In fact, it was the first film of Vinod Khanna as a hero. Before ventured into the direction he wrote dialogues for Biwi Aur Makan(1966), Aashirwad(1968), Khamoshi, and Anand(1969) all directed by Hrishikesh Mukharjee. He also wrote the story, dialogue and screenplay of Guddi, once again directed by Hrishikesh Mukharjee.
His second venture as director was Parichay in 1972.It stars Jeetendra, Jaya Bhaduri; while Sanjeev Kumar, Vinod Khanna, has given special appearances and the music was composed by Rahul Dev Burman. The film was reported to be based on the Bengali novel Rangeen Uttarain by Raj Kumar Maitra and partially inspired by the 1965 movie The Sound of Music.
His third film was Koshish released in Dec 1972. It was inspired by the 1961 Japanese film Happiness of Us Alone. The film was highly acclaimed. he got a National Award for its screenplay and nominated the Filmfare Best Director Award.
The next film he directed was Achanak in 1973, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and starring Vinod Khanna. Gulzar received a Filmfare nomination as Best Director for this film. Even though Gulzar is an accomplished lyricist, this film did not have any songs in it.The entire film production was completed in 28 days
In 1975, three films under his directions were released. the first released was Aandhi in Feb 1975. The film was an Indian political drama film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen and directed by Gulzar. At the time it was alleged that the film was based on the life of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her relationship with her estranged husband, The film got the Filmfare Award of Best Film and Best Actor award to Sanjeev Kumar.
Khushboo was the next film released in March 1975.it was produced by Prasan Kapoor under the Tirupati Pictures banner, presented by Jeetendra and directed by Gulzar. It stars Jeetendra, Hema Malini, and music composed by R. D. Burman. It was praised as a beautiful film with good acting by Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Asrani and Jeetendra
Mausam was the third film of that year released on 29th Dec 1975. The film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore, and directed by Gulzar. It is loosely based on the novel, The Judas Tree, by A.J. Cronin. Sharmila Tagore for her acting received The Silver Lotus Award at the 23rd National Film Festival and the movie was honored by presenting an award for 2nd Best Feature Film. The film received two of eight nominations at the 24th Filmfare Awards. The film also won many other accolades as well.
In 1977 he entered into production also, two films Kitaab and Kinara both produced and directed by him were released, Meera was the third film under his direction released in 1977, all the films couldn't receive well in Box office. Though Meera received critical acclaim.
Angoor was the film released in 1982, in between two insignificant films released under his direction in 1980. Angoor was based on Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors. The film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in dual roles, and directed by Gulzar. The film was appreciated by all. Deven Verma got the Filmfare Best Comedian Award.
Machis(1996) was an important film of Gulzar, after the death of R D Burman he made the film with Vishal Bhardwaj as music director for the first time. The film was produced by R. V. Pandit. It stars Chandrachur Singh, Om Puri, Tabu and Jimmy Sheirgill in the lead roles. The film portrays the circumstances surrounding the rise of the Sikh insurgency in PunjabMaachis was a critical and commercial success. Gulzar's direction and the music of Vishal Bhardwaj were strong points.
This song from 1998 film 'Dil Se' is written by Gulzar, composed by A R Rehman and sung by Lata Mangeshkar. This is the first song Lata Mangeshkar sang for A R Rehman'This song was recorded in Chennai in the recording studio of Rehman. It was the first time Lara Di was recording outside Mumbai. Gulzar in his book has mentioned this song. He said that Lata Ji had not met Rehman before and also not familiar with his style, she asked Gulzar saheb to be present there at the time of recording. He was not only present there but also accompanied her to Chennai. Rehman received her at the airport and took her and Gulzar saheb to the studio. Reman has many studios in Chennai, this was his first studio. Rehman explained the tune to Lata Ji and asked her to sing. Nowadays composers ask singers to sing one line and record it but Lata Ji told him that she will sing the full song in one take but before that she wants a rehearsal. Rehman agreed and took her to the singer's cabin The cabin had a glass on the front side and no glass on the side walls. Unfortunately, Lata Ji could not see the mixing desk from there, nor could she see the musicians. That was a big problem for her, as she was used to having eye contact with the composer. After one rehearsal, Lataji called Gulzar saheb to her side and said ‘Gulzarji, it feels as though I am blind.’ You kindly sit in front of me.so he sat on a stool outside the cabin’s glass door from where he could see both Lataji and Rahman. Despite the fact she recorded the whole song in one session, the song itself was not finalized. Rahman then worked on it for about ten days. He usually works out the instrumentation etc., and so the song evolves slowly into its final form. The next day returned back to Mumbai. After a week Rehman made a call to Gulzar saheb and said ‘Gulzar Saab, I have recorded a male and female chorus and inserted it in between the antaras. The words are in Malayalam, will you translate them into Hindi? He played the song to him over the phone. It sounded very beautiful, so I suggested we keep the chorus in Malayalam. It’s the impact of the overall sound that matters. Malayalam has its own sound and folk songs have their own kind of music. Lataji and the chorus sounded wonderful. Another interesting thing about the song was its lyrics. The song is about the description of a wedding night, Lata Ji usually not sing a song that has anything to do with sex or includes vulgar words or expressions. So it was decided that it will not be picturized as a typical wedding night. This song was picturized on Pritty Zinta and Shahrukh Khan on an outdoor location.
