\u2018Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham\u2026\u2019 completes 20 years of its release today. The film featured a mammoth cast comprising of heavyweights like Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor Khan and was one of the highest grossers of the year 2001. Among other things, the film is remembered for its chartbusting soundtrack that was scored by Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya and Aadesh Shrivastava.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Jatin-Lalit and Shrivastava had been around for long, \u2018Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham\u2026\u2019 marked the beginning of Sandesh Shandilya<\/strong>\u2019s journey as a music director in Hindi films. Prior to this, the composer had worked on popular private albums like \u2018Pyar Ke Geet\u2019 (Shubha Mudgal) and \u2018Piya Basanti\u2019 (Ustad Sultan Khan and Chithra).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You composed five tracks (\u2018Suraj Hua Maddham\u2019, \u2018You Are My Soniya\u2019, \u2018Deewana Hai Dekho\u2019, \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 and \u2018Soul of K3G\u2019) for \u2018Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham\u2026\u2019. Interestingly, you were not too keen on doing the film when it was first offered to you as you didn\u2019t want to be a part of a multi-composer album.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was starting out as a composer, I wanted to handle the responsibility of an album all by myself. Having said that, I have been a big fan of Jatin \u2013 Lalit and it was an honour to share credits with them on the album. Along with RD Burman, Jatin \u2013 Lalit have been my favourite composers. I met them during the recording. They were very appreciative of my music. I am glad my journey as a composer in films started with \u2018Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham\u2026\u2019. A couple of months before Karan started shooting for the film, I had made him listen to \u2018Suraj Hua Maddham\u2019. He had really liked the song but since Jatin-Lalit had done the music of \u2018Kuch Kuch Hota Hai\u2019, he wanted to work with them on this film as well. The shooting for the film had started already when, one day, he called me up and told me that he would like to use \u2018Suraj Hua Maddham\u2019 in the film. After that, I worked on four other tracks for the film. If I have to dedicate the music of the film to someone, it would be Yash Johar saab<\/em>. The film tuned out to be so beautiful because of his blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Agnivarsha\u2019 was the first film you had worked on but it turned out to be your second release after \u2018Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham\u2026\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, that\u2019s right but I will always consider it to be my first film. I will always be thankful to Karan Johar for giving me the opportunity to work on such a massive film despite being a newcomer then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite not doing the entire album, you got the opportunity to showcase your versatility through the five tracks you composed for the film. Each song was different from the other.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The film was about three generations, so that helped in putting together a layered soundtrack for the film. Karan was perhaps not even thirty years old when he made the film. Even today, I feel amazed to see that he managed to make such a mature film at such a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n