How did you envisage the lyrics for Dil Chahta Hai which have become so popular?
My claim to fame is only the lyrics. Again I took the mode or style of the lyrics from the script. What is interesting is that I was writing scripts for Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan at the same time. What inspired you to write for Lagaan? I come from Lucknow. My grandmother and other relatives used to speak the same language. I can speak it too. But the problem was not everybody can speak it. I was not writing the songs for myself, I was writing it for others who had to understand. There was a kind of contradiction in the demand. The film was a period story – the lyrics had to have the flavour of a period and at the same time it will be heard by contemporaries. The language should sound Avadhi, but at the same time, all should understand it. There were lot of buts and that made the challenge more interesting. One must give credit to A.R. Rahman. If he achieved that in his music, that is, it sounds like period music and at the same time it is modern, the same way the lyrics have that touch
