Whatever the detractors and jealous colleagues may have to say about the prolific Pritam Chakbraborty's once-derivative output the man has his fundas fully in place.
No two ways about it.
In what could be deemed a revolutionary move to bridge the gap between creativity and individual satisfaction, Pritam has asked the producer Ramesh Taurani to stop two compositions from being filmed Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.
Reveals Pritam, "One is an item song for Ranbir the other a romantic song featuring Ranbir and Katrina Kaif. I've requested Tauraniji to not film those songs. He has agreed as long as I deliver the substitutes immediately. I'm now working on the alternative tunes literally overnight."
This isn't the first time that Pritam has changed his mind about his songs. "In Jab We Met I sent Imtiaz Ali a substitute tune for the hit Yeh ishq haye at the last minute. And I never liked Nagara in the same film.
I tried to stop it. But everyone was adamant. Later it turned out to be the biggest hit of the Jab We Met soundtrack. So I may be wrong about changing my mind.
But in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani I don't want to take a chance. I'll scrap the two songs and give new tunes. I hope the director Raj Santoshi doesn't mind."
It is reliably learnt that the filming of the two bothersome melodies has been stopped in Ooty until Pritam delivers the fresh tracks. That would be any time this week.
With a whopping string of chartbusters behind him Pritam is now determined to eradicate the reputation of being a derivative creator, or to use a less kind term, a copycat.
Even the slightest whiff of apery drives Pritam into a revisional frenzy.
And so it happened with his music for Raj Kumar Santsohi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahni, one more posh project for Pritam after chartbusters like Jab We Met, Bhool Bulaiya, Kismat Konnection and Singh Is Kinng.
Says Pritam "This is a time when my success is being questioned constantly by the purists.
I'm going blue in the face saying my songs from Jab We Met onwards are all original. Even for Priyadrashan's Bhool Bhulaiya I saw and heard the Malalayam and Tamil originals but refused to use any of their music.
Even the classical song in Bhool Bhulaiya was entirely my own composition. And when Priyan Sir wanted Bengali lyrics in the title song my wife and I sat overnight writing them ourselves."
Not only is Pritam particular about his compositions he's also very touchy about how his tunes are filmed.
"For Priyan Sir's Billoo Barber you've to see what a beautiful job Farah Khan has done of choreographing the Shah Rukh-Deepika Song. Now I've composed two different versions of a romantic song that will be filmed on Shah Rukh-Priyanka and Irrfan-Lara Dutta."
As for voluntarily withdrawing his two songs this has to be an unprecedent self-revision by a creative artiste.
"I know it's generally producers who ask music director for new tunes. But I believe Burman Dada (S D Burman) used to change his mind about his tunes all the time. We're living in mediocre sab-chalta-hai times.
I want to get out of the rat race. And make a name beyond the charts. My music in Imtiaz Ali's second film is very different from Jab We Met. There are no romantic songs in the film.
The chemistry shared between Saif and Deepika Padukone is very different from what Shahid and Kareena shared in Jab We Met. Imtiaz and I are ready for people to be confused by my music. I'd rather have them confused than finally disappointed."
