Puri Jagannadh upcoming pan-India movie, ‘Liger’ is undoubtedly one of the most awaited films of the year. Its first song, ‘Akdi Pakdi’ was released recently and has already become a chartbuster. ETimes got in touch with lyricist Mohsin Shaikh of the Javed-Mohsin duo for an exclusive interaction where he spilled the beans on co-writing the song with Azeem Dayani, making of the song, his views on remixes, and more. Excerpts…
‘Akdi Pakdi’ is on its way to top the chartbusters already. What kind of reactions have you been getting for the song?
‘Akdi Pakdi’ is my first multilingual song and I am happy that it has been getting crazy reactions from audiences across pan India. We have been receiving a lot of dance videos and reels. People are loving the song very much. It feels good. God has been kind.
How did you come on board for the song?
Last year during the lockdown, we worked on ‘Akdi Pakdi’. Azeem Dayani, the music supervisor of ‘Liger’ along with Lijo George and DJ Chetas, who are the composers of this song and myself, we were all on a conference call, that’s when we got the brief from Azeem Dayani and we instantly started jamming and putting the song together. After which we were invited to the Dharma office by Azeem Dayani and we all ended up jamming on Lijo-Chetas’s composition. That’s where Azeem and I wrote the song and the makers approved it. It was indeed fun working on this song!
You have penned the lyrics of the song along with Azeem Dayani. What went into creating the song?
It was fun writing the song with Azeem Dayani who was also the music supervisor of the film ‘Liger’. In fact, not only Azeem but even Lijo George and DJ Chetas are like brothers to me. We all worked really well as a team together on the basis of the brief given to us, trying to make the song as messy as we could. I can say that collectively on behalf of the entire team that we are delighted that the song is doing so well. Also, the south essence in the song is being loved by everyone
The song features the dashing Vijay Deverakonda and the sizzling Ananya Panday. What are your thoughts on these young actors?
I am a big fan of Vijay Deverakonda. His dance moves are awesome. Ananya Panday and Vijay Deverakonda have taken the song to another level with their intense energy. They are amazing and definitely did justice to our song.
How was your experience working with Puri Jagannadh?
Puri sir was very supportive. We once went to meet Puri sir with Azeem Dayani, that’s where we presented the song with the lyrics to him. He instantly loved it and approved it. He is a blockbuster director and I am glad that we got a chance to work with him.
Not everybody is a fan of recreation. How do you deal with negative reviews when you recreate a popular song?
Everyone has their personal opinion about music. I personally think that a good song is a combination of good lyrics and good melody equally. People do criticise recreations, but again if a recreation is done with doing 100 percent justice to the original tune then people will eventually love it. We have had so many examples of such songs in the recent past that include, ‘Aankh Maare‘, ‘Sauda Khara Khara’, ‘Nikamma’ and so many more. All of them have been loved by the audience.
When it comes to lyrics, who do you look up to in the music industry?
I am a big fan of Gulzar Saab, Javed Akhtar sir, Anand Bakshi Saab, Sameer Anjaan sir, Amitabh Bhattacharya sir, Irshad Kamil sir, and Rashmi Virag sir. They are all brilliant and extraordinary. They put soul in the song.
If you could name one composer jodi in Bollywood as your favourite, who would it be?
Naming just one would be difficult. But my all-time favorites are Vishal-Shekhar, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Sajid-Wajid, Sachin-Jigar, and Salim–Suleman. They all have given such beautiful songs to our film industry.
We lost musical icons like Lata Mangeshkar, Bappi Lahiri and KK this year. Your thoughts…
I was extremely saddened. From my childhood days, I have grown up listening to them. My childhood is attached to their voice, music and song. I can’t express in words how hurt and sad I was as if somebody took away my childhood and memories. God bless their souls. They are legends and legends never die. They will be with us forever with their beautiful music.
What’s next?
I am coming up with many more songs, both film and non-film music. I am also writing a few more songs as well and am also set to do a few more collaborations with other artists. I might do a collaboration with a few international artists as well.
