Filmfare.com, April 2003

I don't know how to thank Filmfare for their support and the trust they've placed in me. With these two, I've amassed 16 Filmfare trophies in my decade in films. Awards are precious to me and my fans. They're like petrol--they fuel me to go on! Unfortunately, I had a concert in Chennai the same night, which I had committed to much earlier, so I couldn't make it to the function.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh has brought me my first trophy for a background score. I think this is the first time I've been a bit aggressive with a background score. Also, I worked with musicians inLondon for the first time for this film. Producer Ramesh Taurani very generously gave me quality musicians to work with. Rajkumar Santoshi was very helpful too (I loved the way he would sing old Tamil songs to cheer us up!) especially since my schedule was pretty hectic at the time. I was giving the final touches to the music of Bombay Dreams during the day and working on the background score for Legend at night. I completed the work with barely hours to spare.

Though the tunes of Legend are some of my favourites, they failed to make an impact. Perhaps because too many versions of the story were released simultaneously. At recent concerts however, we have got a tremendous response when Hariharan, Sonu Nigam and I performed Rang de basanti and Sarfaroshi.

For Saathiya, the Hindi version of Alai Payuthe, I composed two new songs to cater to the Hindi audience. We also had to remix most of the songs and make changes like replacing the nadaswaram with the shehnai in the wedding song. We reworked the background score of the last three reels too. Considering the rampant piracy today, I think the music of the film has done pretty well and I'd like to thank all my loyal fans for it.