Lyricist Sameer inks five-film deal with Nikhil Advani

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) Lyricist Sameer, best known for songs like "Kuch kuch hota hai" and "Ghoonghat ki aad mein", has been signed up for five films by Bollywood director Nikhil Advani.

"Yes, it is true," Sameer told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

"I did 'Salaam-e-Ishq' for Nikhil and the music did really well. Then he gave me the offer to write for his next film 'Chandni Chowk To China', but I refused because most of the songs were remixes.

"Now he has signed me for five of his forthcoming films. This kind of deal has never happened with any lyricist before. It's only because of our good rapport that we have signed all these films."

Having served the Hindi film industry for 27 years, Sameer is still one of the busiest lyricists. Apart from these five films, his kitty is full with five other films with composer-singer-actor Himesh Reshammiya.

"For Himesh, I'm doing 'Karzzz', Mahesh Bhatt's 'Kajra Re', John Mathew Mathan's 'A Love Story', Satish Kaushik's 'Gujju Bhai' and also 'Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh'."

Besides these, Sameer is also writing lyrics for "Milenge Milenge", "Housefull", "Golmaal Returns" and two films by Vashu Bhagnani.

The recent films that he penned the lyrics for include "Mere Baap Pehle Aap" and Apoorva Lakhia's forthcoming release "Mission Istanbul".

With so many projects in line, doesn't it get difficult to distinguish between one song and another?

"It's not that I'll do all the five films with Nikhil together. I will take them one by one. So there is no problem as such. In the past, I have worked on 120 films simultaneously," Sameer said. He has churned out nearly 6,000 songs so far, including 564 Hindi films, 22 Bhojpuri films and 32 private albums. For this, his name was also included in the "Limca Book of Records" earlier this year.

"Getting into the 'Limca Book of Records' was like getting one step ahead towards my goal.

"Popular lyricist Anand Bakshi is my biggest inspiration and I always wanted to exceed the number of songs he had written. I also wanted to write for more films than Rafi has sung for. And today I feel I have achieved my goal.

"But now I want to do something different. I want to write for a film like 'Taare Zameen Par'," he said.

At 50, he is now writing songs that are in sync with what the new generation wants.

"I have worked with three generations of music directors - Laxmikant Pyarelal, Nadeem Shravan and now Sajid Wajid, Himesh and others. I have upgraded my style of writing with time. I smell the change and then change myself according to the audience's taste," he said.

• Music News