Javed Akhtar reveals he wrote this song drunk and within 10 minutes: 'I kept delaying it'

Javed Akhtar is one of the most well known lyricists of the industry, having penned iconic songs like Sandese Aate Hain, Main Agar Kahoon, Do Pal, and many more. At a recent event, the lyricist revealed that he wrote one hugely popular track in nine minutes, and went on to recall the story behind it. (Also read: Anu Malik reveals Javed Akhtar walked out after inclusion of ‘Check that, like that’ in Main Hoon Na qawwali song)

Which song did Javed write under 10 minutes?

Javed Akhtar was recently present at the FICCI event in Kolkata, where he talked about how he is sure that he wrote a massively popular song within 10 minutes. At the event, he said, “I have written a handful of songs in under 10 minutes. After Silsila, Yash Chopra’s fourth assistant came to me and requested that I write the songs for his film. Of course, he didn’t have any money, but I agreed. I wrote the songs, but because I was working for free, one remained incomplete. That poor guy would come over every evening and ask for the song, and in those days, I used to drink…”

Javed delayed in writing the song

Javed also elaborated on the anecdote and said how he delayed writing the song till the last day. He added. "Every evening, we’d drink and chit-chat and by 2 am, we’d decided that we would finish the song tomorrow. I kept delaying it, then one day, the poor guy asked again. This was past midnight, after the eighth or ninth peg, I asked for a piece of paper and a pen, and decided to get it over with. The reason why I know for sure that I wrote that song in nine minutes is because he had to catch the last train, so kept looking at his watch. I finished it in nine minutes and handed it over to him. Jagjit Singh sang the song, it was ‘Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya’. It was written at perhaps 12:30 in the night, after eight or nine pegs, in nine minutes…” Javed's response elicited a roaring laughter from the audience present at the event.

Interestingly, Anu Malik recently told ANI during a podcast how Javed Akhtar had once walked out of a song composition process for the inclusion of English words like "Check that, like that" in Tumse Milke Dil Ka, from the film Main Hoon Na.