I’d have done Aashiqui 2 ten times better: Nadeem Saifi

Nadeem Saifi, one-half of the Nadeem-Shravan duo behind a slew of blockbuster 1990s soundtracks — from Aashiqui to Saajan to Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin — returns to Bollywood to score music solo in Suneel Darshan’s Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha. Exiled in Dubai for fear of being arrested for music baron Gulshan Kumar’s murder, Nadeem opens up in a  rare interview...

Suneel Darshan is bringing your music back to Bollywood. What sort of music can we expect from you in this film?

This time around,  Suneel has mixed melody, love and modernity into the music tracks. It’s a blend, which I feel, is perfect to fall in love.

What do you feel about present-day music in Bollywood? Do you see the spark in anyone to  become the next Nadeem-Shravan?

Honestly, there have been some very good songs in the past few years, but few have been able to sustain themselves or be remembered. Sajid-Wajid, Meet Brothers and Pritam did some songs that I liked, but there has been a lack of consistency so far. I don’t see the same kind of spark, because of which they have now started to remix all N-S songs in the films. This goes to prove that there aren’t any or many composers to do good music for cinema. Pritam has given some very good scores, but he does one or two films a year so that is not sufficient for the industry. AR Rahman is also concentrating on Hollywood. There is a huge vacuum.

There is a growing feeling that playback singing is becoming redundant in Hindi cinema...

I think good Hindi songs will always be loved by the cinema-goers, but this  is a time of transition and it’s time for us to produce our own Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Justin Bieber. But this will take a team of music companies to have the courage to promote great talent and they really have to have the will to make them superstars. They need to follow what Gulshan Kumar did. I really miss him.

You and Shravan used to rule the charts. Do you feel that kissi ki nazar lag gayi?

Of course! Hum par bahut nazar lag gayi. Imagine, in a short time, we had nearly a 1,000 hit songs and more than 100 awards!  Of course, I wish we had underplayed it. You should be heard, not seen.

Your thoughts on Aashiqui 2...

I think Number 1 will always be Number 1 and Number 2 will always be Number 2. Of course, I would have done it 10 times better. In my personal opinion, the only song which became famous, was a Moroccan song, which they remixed as Tum Hi Ho.

Are you saying that the most popular song in Aashiqui 2 was copied?

Yes, it was.

Do you miss your partnership with Shravan and are you in touch with him?

Shravan is like my ‘bichda hua bhai.’ I love him very much and I do miss those good days when we worked together. We do speak and wish each other on Diwali, Eid and on our birthdays.  I am so happy that I have the same love from people even now, where ever I go.

What are your future plans? How long do you intend to be in exile? Do you long to come home? Do your children want to return?

Trust me, I have been wronged and it is only out of i that I was advised to stay in exile. I do long to come back to the India of my childhood and my dreams. I Love My India, the song composed by Shravan and me for Pardes, is proof of that. My wife and my children often visit India to see my parents who are old, sick, bed-ridden and miss me a lot. They cry every day for me. The police officers who have fabricated the case against me should announce my innocence. I dare them to come out with the truth. Not one of them has the courage to tell the truth about my innocence. Their own colleagues who are honest, helped me solve this case, that’s how I won the case in London. I cannot name them, but I am indebted to them.

A biopic is being made on Gulshan Kumar.

I am happy that they are making a biopic. I truly hope that it will be a honest script. He was undoubtedly the father of the music industry.  My biopic will follow soon after the release of his biopic.