Music of Kuttey launched at a musical evening

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Aasmaan Bharadwaj is gearing up for his directorial debut with Kuttey, a black comedy. Ahead of its release on January 13, the makers of the film hosted a music launch, titled Mehfil -E-Khaas, at the Hotel Sun’N’Sand.

Anchored by lyricist-writer Varun Grover, the event saw lead artistes Tabu,  Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Madan, Shardul Bhardwaj (no relation to the Bhardwaj family!), director Aasmaan Bhardwaj, his father and the film’s co-producer and composer Vishal Bhardwaj, lyricist Gulzar, singer Rekha Bhardwaj, producers Luv Ranjan, Ankur Garg, Bhushan Kumar and other team members present at the event.

Aasmaan spoke about his directorial debut and take on new-age cinema and recounted his experiences as both son and director with his parents and Gulzar. In an earlier interview, Vishal had justified the use of expletives in his son’s film as being “natural and not gimmicky”, as gangsters, he said, used that kind of language in real life.

Two of the movie’s songs, Phir dhan te nan and Awaara dogs, have already been heard and a new song, Tere saath, was presented at the musical evening.

Live performances from Vishal and Rekha to their past hits with each other and Gulzar made up the evening, which, as usual, began late and became protracted due to some over-indulgent hosting by Varun, making audiences who were initially enraptured restive.

Among the songs presented on stage were Dil to baccha hai ji (Ishqiya), Namak ishq ka and O saathi re (Omkara), Paani paani re (Maachis), Bekaraan (7 Khoon Maaf), Ek woh din (Chachi 420) and Rone do (Maqbool). Gulzar also recited some of his nazms on the occasion.

The highlights of the evening before the formal launch included Tabu stating that she had acted in Vishal Bhardwaj’s first known film, Maachis (as composer), and now in his son’s debut directorial, while also making her lead debut in Prem, produced by Arjun Kapoor’s father, Boney Kapoor, and also doing Gulzar’s daughter Meghna Gulzar’s debut film, Filhaal. Arjun Kapoor recalled being bowled over by Vishal’s film, Kaminey and stated that he had wanted to work with him, but was now working with his son instead.

Varun himself spoke of how Gulzar inspired him to leave a cushy job and come down to Mumbai to follow his heart, while Vishal spoke about his first meeting with Gulzar in a sweetmeat shop in New Delhi. Vishal and Rekha regard Gulzar like a father-figure, and so, Aasmaan addresses him as dana’, a word that is a mix of dada (paternal grandfather) and nana (maternal grandparent). The veteran stated that it was a sheer pleasure to be able to help launch the newer generation after being a part of the earlier one’s debut.

The 88 year-old veteran, about adapting to changes in the world and in writing lyrics, stated humorously that he was learning every day even now. He remarked that when people had changed in the way they looked, dressed and spoke, we could not expect lyrics to remain unchanged. Joking about the jeans revolution where people of all classes and both genders wore it, unlike in the past, he quipped that when he saw his daughter, director Meghna Gulzar, wearing ripped jeans, he knew that even the house-to-house vessel-mongers who sold kitchen pans et al in exchange for old clothes would not buy them!