OP Dutta’s ode to Ganpati

Film-maker JP Dutta’s father, OP Dutta is back after a long hiatus. The veteran Bollywood personality has penned the lyrics for a devotional album, and that to free of cost for singers Roopkumar Rathod and his wife Sonali.

Dutta, who has written films like Border, Refugee, LOC: Kargil and directed Surajmukhi and Malkin among others, had never written lyrics earlier. But he made an exception for this album as the proceeds from its sale will go to charitable trusts in Mumbai like Nirmala — that works for girls living in the city’s red light areas — Beti and also Fellowship of the Handicapped. OP Dutta last wrote the story for his son’s film, the Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan starrer Umrao Jaan three years ago.

Sonali says, “OP Dutta was more than happy that his compositions are finding audience and he did not charge any money for his work. He has not written this for commercial benefit. He was happy to know that the money collected from the sale of this album will go to charitable institutes. It is the cause that made him give a nod to the project and we too wanted to do it because it was for a cause. We haven’t charged money either to sing in it.”