Lyricst-filmmaker Amit Khanna recalls how Bappi Lahiri bagged Chalte Chalte

Remembering Bappi Lahiri, lyricst and filmmaker Amit Khanna shared how the music director was roped in to compose for the film Chalte Chalte.

Lyricist-filmmaker Amit Khanna says singer-composer Bappi Lahiri got his big break in Hindi cinema with the 1976 movie Chalte Chalte after celebrated composers RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal had to back out due to their busy schedules.

Directed by Sunder Dar, the film remains popular till date for Lahiri's composition for the titular track Chalte Chalte Mere Ye Geet, which was sung by Kishore Kumar with lyrics by Khanna. Khanna recalls meeting Lahiri a week before the two teamed up for Chalte Chalte in Mumbai at Navketan Films, a production house started by actor-filmmaker Dev Anand and his elder brother Chetan Anand, where the latter had come to meet few people.

"I told him that you play some music and I will see where I can promote you. I liked the young boy, he was hardly 21-22 then and had come with his parents. He kept meeting me. Around the same time Dev Anand’s nephew Bhisham Kohli (known as Vishal Anand), also an actor, was going to produce his first film,” Khanna told PTI.

Kohli, who was also known as an actor by his screen name Vishal Anand, had featured in the movie opposite Simi Garewal. Khanna said he had suggested Lahiri’s name after Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal couldn’t devote time to Kohli’s film.

"One day, Bhisham said he came from Pancham Da’s (RD Burman) house and that he had promised him to do his film and now he keeps delaying it because he is so busy. Earlier, the same thing happened with Laxmikant-Pyarelal that they were so busy, they said yes to the film and now they don’t have time,” Khanna said.

"I told him I met this young boy from Kolkata, he is talented and asked me to call him. He (Lahiri) was staying with his parents in a small apartment then. He came and played some tunes and we liked it,” he added.

The title track Chalte Chalte picturised on Kohli and Garewal, was a flashback song between the lead characters, reminiscing about their past romance. Khanna said after Lahiri played the melody, he wrote the lyrics within minutes.