41 years- that’s the amount of time Kumar Sanu has spent churning out one chartbuster after another. And one of them is Tujhe Dekha Toh from one of Bollywood’s biggest films, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge. The popularity of the track can be gauged from the fact that it has been voted the UK’s favorite 90s Bollywood song by the BBC recently.
Lalit Pandit, one half of the composer duo Jatin-Lalit isn’t happy with Sanu though. He said in an interview to Bollywood Hungama, “The fact that Kumar Sanu didn’t acknowledge Anand Bakshi who penned the lyrics and us Jatin-Lalit who composed the music for Tujhe Dekha To, which became a success, was a little upsetting. It is not good on his part to continuously say, ‘Mera gaana hai, mera gaana hai’.”
When we reach out to Sanu, who is currently in the United States for live shows, he says he has always appreciated their music, “Of course agar music aisa nahi hota toh yeh gaana hit nahi hota. Same for the lyrics. Maine kuchh aur kabhi socha tak nahi. Jatin Lalit are such music directors… every song has something special. Someone who took forward the legacy of good music after Pancham da was them. Nadeem Shravan, Anu Malik, they are also superb. Jatin Lalit ke music mein touch Pancham da ka rehta hai that everybody likes, though there is no one who can be compared to him. There are no two thoughts that if the composition of Tujhe Dekha Toh wasn’t such, the song would not have been a hit. If the lyrics weren’t so pyaare… it was total team work. Uski wajah se gaana hit hota hai.”
The 66-year-old adds, “The lyrics were so easy to digest for the public. The credit therefore goes first to Jatin Lalit ji and Anand Bakshi sahab.”
Is there a misunderstanding then perhaps, we ask further. Sanu replies, “Kuchh nahi hai. When we meet, we will talk it out. Jatin Lalit ji have given such amazing songs to the industry. They shouldn’t think like this, I have respected them and will always do. Voh humein kuchh bhi kahein, I will respect. They have contributed a lot to my life and career, I want to give them respect all the way.”
Meanwhile, he says that he prefers performing at live shows (he has performed at 12 already in the last two months) over playback singing, “I like live shows more, because in playback singing, you have to wait for the applause and for the song to first become a hit. Here, at shows, the public reaction is instant. I like the applause.”
