With his new romantic drama Saiyaara, which has garnered over Rs 132 crore at the domestic box office in just five days, filmmaker Mohit Suri has also completed 20 years in the Hindi film industry. He began his directorial career back in 2005 with another romantic drama, Zeher, starring Emraan Hashmi and Shamita Shetty.
Zeher, produced by Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films, didn’t perform well at the box office, but its music has stood the test of time. Particularly, the romantic song “Woh Lamhe Woh Baatein,” sung by Atif Aslam, has become a brooding love anthem over the years. However, Suri wasn’t impressed by the track’s initial version at all.
“I remember clearly, I had heard the programming of “Woh Lamhe Woh Baatein” by a very senior music director. And I got very depressed because he’d ruined the song. And I started crying. So, Mukesh ji started laughing at me. He said, ‘Stop, you don’t have to cry and all. We’ll do something.’ I was 22-23 years old,” Suri recalled in the latest edition of Creator x Creator with music composer and longtime collaborator Mithoon on SCREEN.
Bhatt then took Suri to meet another music director, where the producer accidentally met his former collaborator and veteran musical arranger Naresh Sharma. “Mukesh ji had a lot of respect and admiration for him. He exchanged the hellos and his with Naresh ji, came back to me, and gave me a whole brief on how your father was instrumental in the music and background score of Aashiqui (1990) and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991). He was the main person who arranged the music of Aashiqui,” Suri told Mithoon.
Naresh then informed Bhatt and Suri that his son Mithoon does background score. So Bhatt suggested Suri meet Mithoon. “I said hi to you, I don’t think you even looked at me. You were so into your music that you went back into it. I don’t think you cared at that time. Your dad insisted these youngsters should work together. You were 19, I guess,” recalled Suri, in his conversation with Mithoon.
“There was some honesty in the way you were doing it. If you looked at me properly, socialized with me — I mean I was a nobody, I hadn’t done anything — but Mukesh Bhatt, who’s known for his music, if you’d overdone that, (I wouldn’t have worked with you). But you were so spiritual about your music,” added Suri, who then got Mithoon to compose “Woh Lamhe Woh Baatein.”
“I was just blown when I heard what you’d taken that song and made of it. The silence of the piano at that beginning, I just knew it from there,” said Suri, adding, “I remember when we were recording the song, it rained. The lyrics had, “Woh barsaatein.” I think when something good happens, it goes into the universe. It doesn’t stay ours.”
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Mithoon and Suri have since collaborated on memorable tracks like “Aadat” from Kalyug (2005), “Phir Mohabbat Karne Chala Hai Tu” (Murder 2, 2011), “Tum Hi Ho” (Aashiqui 2, 2013), “Humdard” (Ek Villain, 2014), “Main Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga” (Half Girlfriend, 2017), and most recently, “Dhun” in Saiyaara.
