His soundtrack for Gulaal has blown us away. Piyush Mishra on music and sarfaroshi, Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bharadwaj — and missing out on Maine Pyar Kiya

How did Anurag Kashyap convince you to multitask in Gulaal?
I’ve known Anurag since he and Imtiaz Ali used to watch my plays in Delhi. In July 2002, I had gone to meet him when he was planning Gulaal. I was also starting from scratch in Mumbai and Anurag was stuck after Paanch. He wasn’t too sure what he wanted to do with Gulaal’s music. I just happened to mention a song that I had composed, Yaara maula. Anurag loved it and offered me the film. He immediately called up Vishal Bharadwaj and told him that I’d be composing, writing the lyrics and also singing in Gulaal. Once he restarted the shooting in 2005, he offered me the role of Prithvi Bana and I agreed.

Anurag told me that it took you seven days to compose as well as write the music of Gulaal. True?
Most of the songs used in Gulaal have been with me for over 25 years. The only difference is that they were written for theatre so very few people know of them. I just improvised them for Gulaal. I have about 250 songs and poems ready.

You’ve got recognition after 25 years of quality work. Long overdue, don’t you think?
I agree. Initially I went through a ‘false ego’ phase where I pretended to myself and others that I don’t care for popularity or recognition. But now that I’ve tasted success, I can confess that I was restless in Delhi because almost all my friends had come to Mumbai and made it. Yes, it used to disturb me that I’d done so much work which has not come out and I used to wonder if it ever would. Thanks to Anurag Kashyap, my work is out there now. I’m glad that Gulaal happened now. All those years of introspection reflect in my work.

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