Music composers re-using their old, lesser-heard tunes in films, which they feel, will do justice to them and will ensure a bigger reach for them is quite a common practice in the Hindi film industry. To cite an example, Jatin-Lalit recreated “Yaara Yaara”, a song from the ‘Hum Tum’ (2004) soundtrack in ‘Fanaa’ (2006) as “Chanda Chamke”. ‘Yaara Yaara” was not used in the film and hence, the composer duo and Kunal Kohli decided not to let it go to waste and repackaged the song, put it in the film and even promoted it extensively. In this article, we shed light on a song composed by Anu Malik in a very early stage of his career and how he went on to create two iconic songs out it’s prelude and interlude sections much later in his career.
Director Harmesh Malhotra’s ‘Poonam’ (1981), starring Raj Babbar and Poonam Dhillon, was one of the first films Anu Malik composed the music for. It is also, perhaps, the only film which Anu worked with the late Mohammed Rafi in. Rafi had sung three songs in the film, one of which was called “Aa Zara Mere Hamnasheen”. If you listen to the song, the music piece played as a part of the prelude section might take you by surprise as it is the same tune which Anu used to create the song “Chori Chori Jab Nazrein Mili” for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Kareeb’ (1998). This music piece is heard two times more in the track (1:21, 3:37).
The hit song from ‘Kareeb’ is not the only one which “Aa Zara Mere Hamnasheen” served as an inspiration for. Hit the pause button at 2 minutes and 22 seconds; the music piece played here will spring up another surprise. It is the same tune which, nineteen years later, goes on to form the mukhda of “Tu Fiza Hai” from ‘Fiza’ (2000).
It is interesting to see how tunes composed at one particular point of time gain attention decades later when they find the right platform, or in this case, the right film to be used in.