Pritam takes back tunes he created for Rajkumar Santoshi

By Subhash K. Jha, Mumbai, Jan 6 : Composer Pritam Chakraborty is often dissatisfied with the tunes he makes. He recently decided to take back two of his compositions for Rajkumar Santoshi's forthcoming film 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani' because he wasn't too happy with them.

"One is an item song for Ranbir (Kapoor) and the other is a romantic song featuring Ranbir and Katrina Kaif. I've requested producer Ramesh Taurani-ji 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," Pritam told IANS.

This isn't the first time Pritam has changed his mind about his songs.

"In 'Jab We Met', I sent Imtiaz Ali a substitute tune for the hit 'Yeh ishq' 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 Rajkumar Santoshi doesn't mind."

According to sources close to the project, the filming of the two songs in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, has been stopped until Pritam delivers the fresh tracks.

With an array of chartbusters behind him, Pritam is determined to eradicate the reputation of being a copycat. Even the slightest whiff of aping drives Pritam into a revision frenzy.

And so it happened with his music for "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani".

"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 Bhulaiyaa', I heard the Malalayam and Tamil versions, but refused to use any of their music," said Pritam, who has given chartbusters in films like "Bhool Bhulaiyaa", "Kismat Konnection" and "Singh Is Kinng".

"Even the classical song in 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' was entirely my own composition. And when Priyadarshan wanted Bengali lyrics in the title song, my wife and I sat overnight writing them ourselves," he added.

Not only is Pritam particular about his compositions; he's also very touchy about how his tunes are filmed.

"For Priyadarshan's 'Billu Barber', you've to see what a beautiful job Farah Khan has done of choreographing the Shah Rukh-Deepika Padukone song. Now I've composed two different versions of a romantic song that will be filmed on Shah Rukh-Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan-Lara Dutta."

Pritam admits that voluntarily withdrawing two songs is not something many Bollywood composers would do.

"I know it's generally producers who ask the 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," he said.

The composer says that his music for Imtiaz Ali's second film is totally different from "Jab We Met".

"There are no romantic songs in the film. The chemistry shared between Saif Ali Khan and Deepika is very different from what Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor 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," Pritam said.