The second day of Sahitya Aaj Tak 2024 was very good. Yunus Khan, a well-known Vividh Bharti host, and journalist Sahar Zaman, granddaughter of iconic yesteryear singer Talat Mehmood, participated in this event. Yunus had come here to promote his book ‘Umeedon Ke Geetkar Shailendra’. Yunus Khan also revealed the cover of this book. Sahar Zaman had come to promote his maternal grandfather Talat Mehmood’s biography ‘Talat Mehmood The Definitive Biography’. Here he also hummed some songs.
Yunus Khan is a well-known name in radio. He has interviewed hundreds of celebrities for Vividh Bharati over the last two and a half decades. Films and musical programs have been written for radio. Yunus has been writing about cinema for 3 decades. During the session, while talking to moderator Ashutosh, Yunus told how he developed his love for music.
How did Yunus fall in love with music?
Yunus Khan said: ‘I grew up in Bhopal. This was the time when television came very slowly. There was black and white television. A current always flowed. It used to be that if you go out on the streets of the city, a voice will always accompany you, and that voice was the voice of Vividh Bharti, which we found in Ghutti. That is, the announcer said that the lyricist is so-and-so, the composer is so-and-so, the singer is so-and-so, the name of the movie is this and this song is coming. This kept happening in my mind. The second thing is that I got to know the culture of Bhopal and the atmosphere of home, all those things and I started diving into the deep sea of film songs. That’s why I would like to say that the songs have had a profound impact on my life.
In the same conversation, Sahar Zaman said that he has been a journalist for the last 20 to 22 years. He worked for some time with TV Today in the early days of his career. Sahar was associated with us in 2003-2004. In such a situation, he described being a part of Sahitya Aaj Tak 2024 as his homecoming. He also sang the song written by Shailendra: “The sweetest are those songs that we sing in the tone of pain.”
Why was the book written on Shailendra?
Yunus was asked how he was arrested for being in love with Shailendra. About this he said: ‘It happened that I am working on a series in which I have to write about different lyricists. The year 2023 was going to be the year of Shailendra’s 100th birthday. So towards the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, I felt like I had to give a shout out to my favorite lyricist. Now the question was what this format should be. So, after thinking a lot, I understood that I had to choose some films and in those films, within the scope of Shailendra’s songs, situations and characters, how he talks about his time, his society and that last person, with whom no one is found.
He further said, ‘So I selected a few of those films and then continued writing throughout the year 2022. It has approximately 21 chapters. In which there are 20 movies. I have written a chapter on movies with love triangles. There is a chapter where Shailendra has made a great contribution in Bhojpuri songs. So this is Sara. Apart from this, Shailendra not only wrote serious songs but his comedy songs also have a great aspect. So it’s in the book. And here one more thing came to my mind that this is how this song ‘Sabse Madhur Geet’ also describes Shailendra as the lyricist of hopes. That is why I have called my book ‘Shailendra, the lyricist of expectations’. He is that lyricist who does not give up expectations in every situation.
Yunus narrated stories related to the interview.
While working on Vividh Bharti, Yunus Khan had interviewed many stars. Talking about this, he said, “I think I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to talk to Lata Mangeshkar ji.” I also spoke to Khayyam Saheb. I remember the first interview I did at Vividh Bharti was with Yogesh ji. Once I was interviewing Lata ji over the phone. I said I know you like perfume. You also give gifts to people. Lata ji said come home, I will gift it to you too. Hearing this, I started sweating.
Narrating another incident, he said, ‘Once, Lata ji told me, before an interview, not to ask about film songs. Now think you wouldn’t ask such a good singer about movie songs. Yunus said he had spoken to Lata Mangeshkar for 40 minutes that day. In this he talked about cricket, jewelery designing, sarees, perfumes and other things. Songs were not discussed even once during this.
