Hello,

Could anyone let me know who was the music arranger for Veer Zaraa? Obviously it could not have been Madan Mohan....

Sandeep,

The music for Veer Zaara was 're-created' by Sanjeev Kohli - Madan Mohan's son, from old tape recordings of composing sessions of Madan Mohan.

The music for Veer Zaara was taken from many of Madan Mohan's such privately recorded tunes which he was probably hoping to use later or from alternate tunes that he had composed for some of his released work. In these recordings, MM sings the tune accompanied by his harmonium or plays it on a piano - sometimes with other accompaniments like a tabla. Sanjeev Kohli originally suggested this option to Yash Chopra ( the producer of Veer Zaara) when they were looking for a composer to make suitable tunes of an earlier period - to fit the ambience of the proposed unnamed Yash Chopra film - later to be called Veer Zaara. Yash Chopra was thrilled to hear the tunes and agreed to the idea of using MM's tunes for the film. The initial selection of these tunes was done jointly by Sanjeev Kohli, Lata Mangeshkar (who is very close to the MM family) and Yash Chopra.

All the songs were then arranged to fit the film - by Madan Mohan's son Sanjeev Kohli. This included finalising the arrangements to match the film's mood and scene requirements as well as orchestrating several small snippets taken from MM's work which were then used for the interlude music in the songs. So that, technically, EVERY single note in every song of the film was actually composed by Madan Mohan. There is an interesting CD which accompanies the main audio CD of the film which deals with how the music was put together....and there are several clips of the original compositions in MM's own voice which then lead seamlessly into the corresponding song from the film....and this highlights how Sanjeev has taken care to ensure that the original tune has been maintained without even the slightest bit of alteration - except that the 'arrangement' of the music has been done in a more modern manner.

Of course, these were tunes which were not yet 'finalised' by Madan Mohan....and it is quite likely that if MM had used them he would have probably made some alterations/improvements at the time of rehearsals, as was customary. However, for Veer Zaara, the tunes were retained in their original, 'raw' form....since Sanjeev did not want any alterations to be made to his father's compositions. The background music score was also created by Sanjeev Kohli. Orchestration was 'arranged' by R S Mani - who also assisted Sanjeev Kohli earlier - in recording the 'revival' series of old hindi film songs - a project which Sanjeev Kohli had initiated and supervised for Saregama a few years ago.

Sanjeev Kohli has been the CEO of Yashraj Films - for some years now.


Sri

sri ji,

Thank you for this very informative reply. I didn't know that Sanjeev Kohli was also involved in music in any way other than being working with HMV in some senior position. I am amazed to know that each piece of interlude music was also composed by Madan Mohan. That is why the music of Veer Zaara sounds so melodeous. I was under the impression that only the main tune of the songs were composed by Madan Mohan and the music arrangement was done totally independantly by one of the modern-day music directors. In fact, IMHO, the music arrangement of "Main Yahan Hoon" sounds like a blend of Anu Malik & Jatin-Lalit.... Hey, I can see a lot of bricks & stones flying my way . Folks, please don't be angry with me, but if you listen to this song, don't you also think so? I am only referring to the music arrangement part here...

they discovered that there were around100-120 tunes. so they chose 30 of them and finally settled on 11 they liked most. (they= lata, yash chopra and sanjeev kohli.)

but some of those tunes were actually rejected by Madan Mohan. have you got that audio where he sings Dil dhoondta hain to the tune of Tere liye (Veer Zaara) and then discards the tune?

but i think Tere liye , Do pal and Jaane kyun were typical MM tunes or we could say they were least harmed while recreating the music.

some of songs sounded modern maybe becuase of the new instruments and advanced recording.

I have the "Dil Dhoondhta Hai" sung by Madan Mohan which I don't remember where I downloaded from. I will upload it over the weekend.

Honestly I don't think this was such a great album except for a few songs, the best of the lot IMO being Sonu Nigam's "Kyon Hawa...". I think MM would have composed a much better album had he been given this theme, but it was a good effort by his son and the rest of the team.

In one of Lata's solo's from the film, there is the flute piece used from the Rafi classic "Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil...." as interlude music.

Here is "Dil Dhoondhta Hai" by Madan Mohan. Sorry for the delay, I couldn't do it during the weekend...

[/quote]
Sandeep,

The music for Veer Zaara was 're-created' by Sanjeev Kohli - Madan Mohan's son, from old tape recordings of composing sessions of Madan Mohan.

The music for Veer Zaara was taken from many of Madan Mohan's such privately recorded tunes which he was probably hoping to use later or from alternate tunes that he had composed for some of his released work. In these recordings, MM sings the tune accompanied by his harmonium or plays it on a piano - sometimes with other accompaniments like a tabla. Sanjeev Kohli originally suggested this option to Yash Chopra ( the producer of Veer Zaara) when they were looking for a composer to make suitable tunes of an earlier period - to fit the ambience of the proposed unnamed Yash Chopra film - later to be called Veer Zaara. Yash Chopra was thrilled to hear the tunes and agreed to the idea of using MM's tunes for the film. The initial selection of these tunes was done jointly by Sanjeev Kohli, Lata Mangeshkar (who is very close to the MM family) and Yash Chopra.

All the songs were then arranged to fit the film - by Madan Mohan's son Sanjeev Kohli. This included finalising the arrangements to match the film's mood and scene requirements as well as orchestrating several small snippets taken from MM's work which were then used for the interlude music in the songs. So that, technically, EVERY single note in every song of the film was actually composed by Madan Mohan. There is an interesting CD which accompanies the main audio CD of the film which deals with how the music was put together....and there are several clips of the original compositions in MM's own voice which then lead seamlessly into the corresponding song from the film....and this highlights how Sanjeev has taken care to ensure that the original tune has been maintained without even the slightest bit of alteration - except that the 'arrangement' of the music has been done in a more modern manner.

Of course, these were tunes which were not yet 'finalised' by Madan Mohan....and it is quite likely that if MM had used them he would have probably made some alterations/improvements at the time of rehearsals, as was customary. However, for Veer Zaara, the tunes were retained in their original, 'raw' form....since Sanjeev did not want any alterations to be made to his father's compositions. The background music score was also created by Sanjeev Kohli. Orchestration was 'arranged' by R S Mani - who also assisted Sanjeev Kohli earlier - in recording the 'revival' series of old hindi film songs - a project which Sanjeev Kohli had initiated and supervised for Saregama a few years ago.

Sanjeev Kohli has been the CEO of Yashraj Films - for some years now.


Sri
[/quote]

Hey thanks for this info. I thought it was Nitin Shankar.

i think Sanjeev Kohli used to be with HMV.

i like the compilations of LM songs that he made for HMV.

1) Lata Mangeshkar - Special edition on receiving Padma-Vibhushan

2) Rare Songs by Lata Mangeshkar.

do you have these albums?

The tune of this song was used for "Tere Liye Hum Hain Jiye" for Veer Zaara.

Here is how it was converted to Veer Zaara song.