Published by: Anurag Kashyap
Published on: Dec 01 2008 @ 11:49 am
Years ago when i was writing Paanch, there was a moment when i thought that what if these guys are not a rock band but a brass band. I rejected the idea. The idea of a brass band is not original. I saw a film, much revered , rarely seen back in 1995. Om Darbadar by Kamal swarup.
Meri Jaan A..aaaaaaa Meri Jaan B..bbbbbbb
There is a sequence there, which i don’t remember exactly but a band is playing on the streets and the protagnist is walking through it. Song was in semi english and hindi. The singer was wearing glasses in the night. That visual, that moment stayed with me. I wanted to recreate it. Always. Watching the films of Emir Kusturica strengthened my resolve.
Opening scene from \"Underground\", by Emir Kusturica
The brass band sound is a very indian sound rarely used in the main stream.
I met Amit Trivedi through Shilpa Rao, the singer. I was shooting No Smoking at the time. I roughly told him what I wanted to do with Dev.D and gave him a situation. Eight months later when i met him he had not one but seven songs ready for me. All of them are in the film. He became the reason why Dev.D is a musical. His music inspired me to rewrite and rethink my film. One of those songs was “Pardesi”, and one of the lines in the song went, “Ib ke hovega re agge Yaar”. The first time I heard the song,”Agge Yaar” sounded like “atyachar”, and I loved it. On the second hearing I realised it wasn’t “atyachar” and I was disappointed. I told myself that I will tell him to change it to “atyachar”. But somehow the same song from Om Darbadar, flashed. The word “Emotional” occured to me. “Emotional Atyachar”, I knew it would catch on. Together they had great effect. I mentioned it to Amit. He liked it, but didn’t know initially what to do with it. I showed him the sequence from Om Darbadar. He went back, him and Amitabh , the lyricist got back with the rough version of the song. It rocked. We knew Amit had cracked something. The song was recorded.
Now came the part where we had to shoot it. We got a local band from Chandigarh. Harish Band. Made them part of the portion of the story that was to be shot in the village. Initially I wanted to shoot the song on Amit and Amitabh, but they were busy with Aamir. Then I turned to my associate director, Nitin and my assistant Vasan. I told them I am shooting the song on you. They agreed . I told Shubra , my costume designer the look i wanted, slightly vernacular Elvis presley. Vasan Came up with the name “Patna ke Presley” , I had another idea. I bounced it off first Ashish Shukla, he preferred Vasan’s name. Others too. We stayed with “patna ke presley”. A day before the shoot, Nitin developed cold feet. That too after the costume test. He thought he looked funny in the costume and no one will take him seriously after the song comes out. I was upset. I called Gautam, my casting director. I told him can you get me Nowazuddin on the first flight to Chandigarh. Nowazuddin is this extraordinary actor, who played Asghar Mukadam in Black Friday, the first guy who gets arrested. He flew in. By then Nitin was feeling horrible, he consented too. So we got them both as PKP and poor vasan became the trumpet player in the front. And we shot the song , in one night.
The true heroes of the song are the performers, Amit and Amitabh and Band Masters Rangila and Raseela who sung it. Entirely improvised.
A song that I, we and everybody at UTV loves and is proud of. This is the story behind it.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Published on: Dec 01 2008 @ 11:49 am
Years ago when i was writing Paanch, there was a moment when i thought that what if these guys are not a rock band but a brass band. I rejected the idea. The idea of a brass band is not original. I saw a film, much revered , rarely seen back in 1995. Om Darbadar by Kamal swarup.
Meri Jaan A..aaaaaaa Meri Jaan B..bbbbbbb
There is a sequence there, which i don’t remember exactly but a band is playing on the streets and the protagnist is walking through it. Song was in semi english and hindi. The singer was wearing glasses in the night. That visual, that moment stayed with me. I wanted to recreate it. Always. Watching the films of Emir Kusturica strengthened my resolve.
Opening scene from \"Underground\", by Emir Kusturica
The brass band sound is a very indian sound rarely used in the main stream.
I met Amit Trivedi through Shilpa Rao, the singer. I was shooting No Smoking at the time. I roughly told him what I wanted to do with Dev.D and gave him a situation. Eight months later when i met him he had not one but seven songs ready for me. All of them are in the film. He became the reason why Dev.D is a musical. His music inspired me to rewrite and rethink my film. One of those songs was “Pardesi”, and one of the lines in the song went, “Ib ke hovega re agge Yaar”. The first time I heard the song,”Agge Yaar” sounded like “atyachar”, and I loved it. On the second hearing I realised it wasn’t “atyachar” and I was disappointed. I told myself that I will tell him to change it to “atyachar”. But somehow the same song from Om Darbadar, flashed. The word “Emotional” occured to me. “Emotional Atyachar”, I knew it would catch on. Together they had great effect. I mentioned it to Amit. He liked it, but didn’t know initially what to do with it. I showed him the sequence from Om Darbadar. He went back, him and Amitabh , the lyricist got back with the rough version of the song. It rocked. We knew Amit had cracked something. The song was recorded.
Now came the part where we had to shoot it. We got a local band from Chandigarh. Harish Band. Made them part of the portion of the story that was to be shot in the village. Initially I wanted to shoot the song on Amit and Amitabh, but they were busy with Aamir. Then I turned to my associate director, Nitin and my assistant Vasan. I told them I am shooting the song on you. They agreed . I told Shubra , my costume designer the look i wanted, slightly vernacular Elvis presley. Vasan Came up with the name “Patna ke Presley” , I had another idea. I bounced it off first Ashish Shukla, he preferred Vasan’s name. Others too. We stayed with “patna ke presley”. A day before the shoot, Nitin developed cold feet. That too after the costume test. He thought he looked funny in the costume and no one will take him seriously after the song comes out. I was upset. I called Gautam, my casting director. I told him can you get me Nowazuddin on the first flight to Chandigarh. Nowazuddin is this extraordinary actor, who played Asghar Mukadam in Black Friday, the first guy who gets arrested. He flew in. By then Nitin was feeling horrible, he consented too. So we got them both as PKP and poor vasan became the trumpet player in the front. And we shot the song , in one night.
The true heroes of the song are the performers, Amit and Amitabh and Band Masters Rangila and Raseela who sung it. Entirely improvised.
A song that I, we and everybody at UTV loves and is proud of. This is the story behind it.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Keep posting regularly.
It’s high time 
P.S. Have sene Om Darbadar and had a discussion about the film in a seminar with Kamal Swarup. Liked the film for its undertones.
eagerly waiting for that
the trailer rocks!
whens the movie releasing?
cant wait , really
Can we see the video somewhere?
Your description of development of this song is very interesting. I shall look at it in a completely new way the next time… and I am sure I shall enjoy it as well…..
I have a question for you.. when you picturize a scene in your head, how do you begin to write it.. I mean ‘What’ do you write? I am struggling to write some thoughts of mine on paper.. in my head I can see it on 70 mm… each and every thing so clearly but, when I look at a paper I am totally dumbfounded.. I lose all my thoughts… :D….
Thanks.
“Om Dar Badar song”
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_LOoVoaXM
Is this the sequence that inspired EA?
I love this movie man OM DAR BA DAR,1988,the song taking reminds me of Emir Kusturica’s UNDERGROUND,1995 an outstanding film !!!
GK
Not just Amit Trivedi, even that girl who composed the stuff for OLLO, has done a great job..tracks like jugni,superchor and my fav raj dulaari..thankfully, music directors like Amit and Sneha are here to stay, hopefully, indefinitely…
Akki- Main bhi yahi chahta hoon..par kya karein, hamara kaam hai try karte rahna, jab tak aap accept na kar lein
Sarang, sit back ,it will come to you
Also maybe after ‘black Friday’ our expectations went through the roof.
I saw the trailers of Dev D while I had gone to watch OLLO(what a movie!..) am really excited about the movie…I totally agree with you devdas was Sharad Chandar’s worst ever. Albeit, Chandramukhi’s character really intrigues me..
Waiting to see your version.
I hate being addressed as a fan but for the want of a better word ….must confess have followed everything that you have written (at least all that is available to read) and it this didn’t start with black Friday, it was just some article of your’s I read somewhere about cinema.
Hey, you must write more often, on more widely read media also. Like Mumbai mirror was fun.
Mainak, if Nitin had not taken himself seriously then Patna ke Presley would have been a bit too overweight to pull it off
Nitin and Nawaz in fullon improv number choreographed by AK who himself can burn the dance floor with his moves(NO KIDDING)…..have comes up with a rocking brass band song (watch out for the rock version too…needless to add….it’s meant to rock and it rocks!!!)
BLOODY DESPERATE…(all of us)!
Some kind of band?
Could not find anything on wiki
and my first reaction after that was om dar badar…
awsome film it is… hats off to kamal for that…
and here you have it… was wondering wether you had actually referred to it…
wonder if you are familiar with the work of goran bergevic… he has done music for emir kausturica and all….
anyway, waiting for the film eagerly…
the trailer looks aweSOME!!!
Goran Bergevic did BORAT too for Larry Charles, below is his latest tour video enjoy !!!
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=vUW0262_SJI
GK
Rumours don’t worry me. Everyone at UTV and outside who have seen the film love it.
Like, ‘reportedly slammed a table lamp across the lead actress’ crotch’.
I say those guys are reportedly printing bullshit.
Anyways, I am actually waiting for the music release. HUGE fan of Amit Trivedi - right from his ‘Om - The Fusion Band’ (if you haven’t listened to it, do it; it’s finger-snapping good).
I think I will be forced to consider time travel if I start anticipating the movie release already.
As an Italian, I always associate brass bands with Fellini. It’s the sound of Nino Rota for me, what I grew up around and there is so much back and forth between Indian cinema and Italian cinema. It’s probably the reason I feel home when I watch a good Hindi film…
It’s also a very Gypsy, melancholic sound, even when the music played is happy - as in a wedding setting - which is just brilliant as the setting of a song titled “Emotional Atyachar”!
Oh, and Patna ke Presley?!?! Funny…
That Om Darbadar song reminded me of Classic Band baja song: Nazrein Mili Dil Dadka from Raja (1995) http://youtube.com/watch?v=GL-l37bu-Vk
Listen to Om Darbadar song at 1:48 It’s the same tune.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb_xsOGMtiE
and who is that firangie girl who plays chanda:)
O! I saw that film recently on Tv and really liked it but I had missed the starting credits. Thanks for pointing out! And waisay that skooter baazi scene from Come September somehow reminded me of scooter baazi song from An Evening in Paris.
PS: what is the name of the Jazz song in the start of Aamir (Was it an Ella Fitzgerald number?)
Where can I watch or get the CD/Tape of Kamal Swarup’s “Om Darbadar”???
-KM-
3 mistakes when u wer 21 ?
1.Tried acting in films. one rare telefilm called 44. Me and imtiaz ali were the two leads. The film and we were so bad we gave up acting.
I don’t remember other mistakes.
read somehwhere that u r in Luck by chance ….is it true….and if yes is it a walk on part…
That said, I think you REALLY should just release Paanch on DVD (or just send me a copy. I’ll pay shipping charges.
I’m surprised that when the whole world is trying to make movies based on books, in Bollywood, no one wants to do the same now (Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I don’t remember the last movie I saw that was based on a book.) And it’s not that we don’t have great books. (Isn’t The God of Small Things a good enough book?)
I appreciate what you’re trying and I really like most of your movies (I don’t wanna flatter you and go ahead and say that I like ALL of them. Even God makes mistakes
I’m really looking forward to Dev D, though I probably have to make do with cam prints online or on pirated CDs. (I’m sorry, I can’t wait for the DVDs to release in India and then ask someone to ship them over here. A year is waaaaaay too long a wait for a movie). You really should release some of your movies in Canada (even one screen in Toronto and Vancouver for a fortnight is good enough).
The best part of your movies is the soundtracks. As an avid rock fan, Paanch is like a dream come true and “Emossanal Atyachaar” is well, ummm, let’s say the trailer is usually on an infinite cycle on my youtube playlist, both at home and work, and my sister is ready to kill me for humming it all day long.
I do hope you release the movie here and I have the opportunity to watch some of your work on the big screen
Lemme finish off this (monstrously long) post by quoting one of my all time favorite songs, Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond:
“Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!”
(Yes! You do fit the above description
Is there a place where have explained the movie “No Smoking”. I have seeen the movie thrice but still havent able to understand the movie now and that is wat is intriguing.
Guys, do watch ‘Dil Kabbaddi’. Brilliantly written. The writer’s wife is going to divorce him in a few days…
Really Brilliant!
Unfair hoga nahi to…
“Ek Do teen chaar…. che… (whatever happened to Paanch)
Yeh dil pighla ke saaz bana loon,
‘dhadkan ko awaaz banaa loon,
Smoking Smoking nikle re dhuaan,(Inspite of making such a wonderful film, reception and reviews were so bad, it acutally smoked out - No Smoking)
Sine mein jalti hai armaanon ki arthi
What to tell u darling kya hua”(Need not explain this), Am I atleast 1 percent correct? Maafi dei deo if i m wrong… Where can I get to see Paanch(1 thing i wanna do b4 i die)… What can i do to control my urge to work with you?
And thanks for all the compliments.. I take them .. ha ha
and finally atleast some word on Paanch’s release…hope it does release…..ill watch it twice just to wash away the sins of watching Black Friday on a pirated disk and plagiarizing it in a college presentation.
its a classic in every sense…..
Out of topic…. par Oye Lucky ne hila diya Boss. I don’t think I have seen a more accurate depiction of Delhi in my life. It wasn’t just the narrative, it was the details. I felt like I did after I came out of Shool, that I had seen something that I know from my life on the screen. The characters, the art design, the locations, the dialect… the entire mise-en-scene.
Reminded me of everything from Pyasa to Goodfellas. Just wanted to know what you thought of it? Particularly the film making (slow mo, sound design etc.)Also what do you think of film being promoted and called a comedy?
p.s. he beat you to the punch on the brass band thing. Trailer of Dev D. looks great. Can’t wait.
when will you post the continued series of satya - the true story? hope yoe remember…loved part 1 & 2…waiting for the remaining series…
I am a huge fan of Vishal Bharadwaj and since you seems to have the ability to bring best out of him
I sort of felt that u two will become like Gulzar-RD Burman team creating great music as well as great films.Is there any probabilty that I will get to listen to Anurag Kashyap-Gulzar-Vishal Bharadwaj music score?
I know about ‘no smoking’.I meant any future films with Vishal Bharadwaj?
concept art or something?
right now we are working on the script.. still six months before we lock that.
there’s this guy called trilok in Yuva who plays devgan’s friend. he looks quite similar to u….is he ur brother?
jus read your comment no 83 and found out that you are working on your next script.
Any chance if i cud get a chance to work with you and your team on concept idea/storyboard, that will be a dream come true … to work wid ya.
I am an IIT grad and recently came down mumbai to learn craft of film-making. I believe i have good ability of visuvalization and hv basic understanding of scriptwriting, camera etc and abvoe than that a zeal , an enthusiasm , a passion for cinema……
Hope to see a muse from you .. my id is ajaykumar.saxena@gmail.com
I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Damn good interpretation buddy….i think this wud be the most relatable version of Devdas rather than the older ones…Actress who plays Paroo seems really good..Just waiting for the release
I would love to do designs for “Doga” !!!
(The Dark Superhero)
Storyboards, Concept Art, Poster Design,
Let me know,,.
btw if im not wrong he wrote Manorama……one helluva film……the best of 2007 according to me..
y doga ther r so many characters for raj comics ……nagraj , bhokal ,dhruv …..?
PL TELL ME THAT IS IT POSIBBLE TO ASK FOR WORK ON PFC AND GET ACCEPTED BY A DIRECTOR LIKE YOU.PL ALSO QUOTE WHAT TO TAKE CARE BEFORE ASKING FOR A BREAK AS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR…….IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU DROP A MAIL ON yaddain724@rediffmail.com…..as far as my details are concerned ….in short i left everything for my passion and coming to mumbai next week and there is one story with me…CHIDIYA KUI ANKH OR ARJUN.PL HELP IF POSSIBLE (I CAN QUOTE HERE THAT WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION AND WROK EXP IO HAVE BUT I WANT TO LEARN AND I JUST FROMAT MY MIND TO GET FRESH AND RIGHT DETAILS….)
as far as i know, pfc is not a job forum. naukri.com or monster.com would be more apt for that.
pfc is a place where directors write about their filmmaking experiences, their likes and dislikes. in my opinion it is not proper to ask for work here. for that you can buy a trade mag like Film India, get the director’s contact details and then contact him. why test his graciousness in public? Not done.
naukri & monster have no buisness to do with entertainment yaar…..and one more thing PFC is not only for Directors bhai…..
but ya tnx to quote a name like Film india…pl add more resources.
Here’re the links: PART I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0PA-a1VHxQ
PART II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJawrQZGbDI
Please do explain how this served as an inspiration. Nevertheless, EA seems better than the original. Of course, I haven’t listened to the whole song, so I can’t be decided on whether EA should be termed as inspired or lifted…
First, I am in joy after I saw the name “Bombay Velvet” in ur reply! You really making this movie on the lines of Blue Velvet or what!! My God!! That will be real great. Write something on this.
Second, emotional atyachar is rocking in promo vidoes. You are such an opportunistic to cast Abhay Deol at just the right time. Can’t wait to watch this. Abhay is the next Nasiruddin Shah of the industry, though pretty much incomparable with anyone.
And, and…. I wish and hope that Doga will be the finest superhero movie of india, he is anyway one of the best superhero of Indian comics.. Darkness is the first thing which should appear in a heroic movie, infact that should be the second important character..memories will be relived on Mumbai’s dark streets. Amen!
I think this Leo is “one” of the guys in that band,he just wanted you to notice him !!!
GK
Awesome website,the Hindi Lustline is mindlowing,heard it more than 30 times ,tooooooo gooooooooooood !!!!
GK
made the most sense 2 me.it was worth braving
the ‘door break’ scene at cinefan.
Watched the promos and seems to be damn interesting movie. “Emosional atyachaar” bhi mast hai, jhakaas.
I visited the official site of the movie, may I give some advise? Assuming “yes”, please do not put a lot of unnecessary animation on the webpages, they make it damn slow. When I am having one of the latest pcs and with a great net connection, it still takes time. And makes it annoying rather than being informative. For example, google is one of the highly accessesed and yet very simple website. Ask you website designer to make it informative and easily accessible. At least a couple of front pages should load with the eye blink and then you can put anything you want. What I like in the website is the french/english/hindi/tamil versions of a particular link. Great idea.
Wish you good luck for the project.
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Promotional Atyachar! [:D]
The promos on TV have started.I’ve seen the same today.
The link once again, to make sure we’re on the same page here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFfyJW1qas4
With all due respect, its obvious none of us seems deaf, neither literally (take my word for this and I’ll take yours) nor figuratively (after that reply of yours).
And to make the connection clearer, kindly bother to go through the comments on that vid and the DevD trailer on the UTV channel itself.
Hopefully, I’m not coming across as if I hate you
@GK (Comment #99): w.e.
When’s the music comin out????????????
The website is amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzinnnnnn
Why are you not answering to any queries regarding the music release. Please tell us when the music will be released.
Anurag has already mentioned that the audio release will happen on Jan 10th.
Emotional Atyachar is just kickass.I lovvvvvvvvvvvvve it to the core
Though,Mayank is a Huge Fan of Black Friday.Keep up the good work Anurag.
Later…
Who are those 2 guys(Patna ke Parsley’s) .. i feel that i have seen them before
we’ll look back at this song and rock out even when we got kids and are balding… this song will be part of our culture
i cant get over ranjhana….you have got to give a pat on Amit and shilpa’s back for this one…
Dev D is eagerly awaited
Patna ke presley was Vassan’s idea.
Hey Anurag thanks for this one and every other blogs of yours and the reason is obvious. Thnx! Keep it up
Let’s everybody (including “Patna Ke Presleys” :))
remember gr8 singer/actor on this occasion filled
up with strong “इमोशन्स”
Can we have a small interview or so from Amit trivedi.. Would love to know wt thinking went from his side for the songs of the film.. The music is simply brilliant..
It was nice bumping into you after a long time while you watched Australia at PVR a few days back
One of my friends got inspired by EA and has written on his blog , thought i would share it
http://pdponder.blogspot.com/2009/01/emotional-atyaachar.html
and my caller tune is EA
awaiting for the film very eagerly
cheers !!
Kamayani