Seven time national award winner Vishal Bhardwaj decided to take up film direction to keep his music-composing skills alive. “I never wanted to become a director and do big things! Mere rooh ki giza aur bhook is music. I feared that if I don’t become a director I may stop getting songs. However, I had no idea that I will come so far,” said the composer, director, producer and screenwriter during the ‘Sangat: A Creative Dialogue in Art’ event in Lucknow. Bhardwaj was in conversation with author Yatindra Mishra, where he recounted various moments of life.

His father Ram Bhardwaj was a government servant and film lyricist. “He was ‘shayar’ at heart. He was friends with Laxmikant-Pyarelaji, Usha Khannaji and others. Our kind of summer holidays was never to the hills but visiting Mumbai. Probably that glamour bug had bitten me which I realised much later. I also started writing in poetry, rather ‘tukbandi’ (derogatory; poetry where there is greater emphasis on word play and rhyme than actual content). I used to compose tunes for my father’s lyrics. One such experiment reached a film director, who shared it with Ushaji, which she used in the film. This gave me a lot of confidence,” he said.

Vishal was born near Bulandshahr, lived in Najibabad and Meerut before moving to Delhi. “Uttar Pradesh has played an important part in my career and in my work. In ‘Omkara’, I was able to bring out my connection with the state and its language. The film’s dialect is that of Meerut, which has its own tone and rhythm. We shot both ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ here,” he said.

A big fan of legendary Gulzar, he first met him in New Delhi. “My only dream in life was to compose a composition of Gulzar Sahab and that Lataji sing it. I used to remember his work by heart. My first chance to meet him was at a studio in New Delhi for a recording for Amzad Ali Khan sahab.”

“He had lost his way. He called up at the studio and luckily I received the phone call. Without telling anyone I went to receive him at Bengali Sweet House, Safdar Jung Enclave. I received him and to spend more time him I took him via a longer route and expressed my desire to work with him. Few years after, I got to work with him. My first song with him was for TV serial ‘Dane Anark Ke’ sung by Suresh Wadekar. Thereafter, ‘Chaddhi pehan ke phool kila hai’ happened.”

The composer’s first song with Lata Mangeshkar was ‘Paani-Paani’ in Machis. “The kind of preparation Lataji does before recording is unparalleled. I was very scared and she sensed it. She called me and said, ‘Treat me like a newcomer and let me know what you want from me, as it’s your composition’. Not just that her sense of humour is matchless and she does it with a poker face,” he said.