There was a time to change the word ‘Chaddi’ used in the popular children’s song ‘Jungle-Jungle Baat Chali Hai’, but lyricist Gulzar was not at all ready for it. Composer Vishal Bhardwaj, who composed this song, said that Gulzar did not let the innocence and imagination of the song diminish at any cost. Speaking at the seventh edition of ‘Dehradun Literature Festival’ on Saturday, Bhardwaj told how he was called at the last moment to compose this famous song of ‘Jungle Book’ after the original composer had left the work.
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This title song of Rudyard Kipling’s animated series ‘Jungle Book’ was very popular among children in the 90s. He said, “At that time, NFDC used to dub foreign animated series in Hindi. The composer who was supposed to do this work (composing the song) could not come due to some problem. Then Gulzar Sahab called me to his house. He knew I was going through a period of struggle.” Vishal told, “We had to prepare the song immediately, record it the next day and air it on TV the next day. That’s how this song was made.”
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Bhardwaj said that he is proud that he has created the maximum number of songs with Gulzar, both in films and non-film projects. He said, “NFDC officials found the word ‘Chaddi’ strange, but Gulzar clearly said – Strange is an illusion of the mind. This is a child’s imagination. If the song goes on TV, it will go like this, otherwise don’t play it.” Eventually, with no alternative, the song was broadcast as it was.
Famous filmmaker Bhardwaj is known for popular films like ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Omkara’ as well as children’s films like ‘Makdi’ and ‘The Blue Umbrella’. He regretted that there is still a dearth of films made in true sense for children in India. He said, “We do not work just to entertain children.
Children have to depend on Hollywood, outside animation films or poor Bollywood films, which have nothing for the children.” The theme of the three-day literary festival organized at Doon International School was—’Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Voices of Unity.’ Many big names like former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, actor-filmmaker Nandita Das, writer Shobha De and singer Usha Uthup participated in it. This literary event will end on Sunday.