It has come to hog the limelight in the last few days-somebody said that I wanted to work in the films. I dont know whose figment of imagination it was, but this is what it really was. It appears that I was misquoted or someone deliberately did that for his own convenience. The fact is that Gulzar had made a documentary on me, way back in 1984. Made for Films Division, it was shown many a times on the Doordarshan. Later on, 4-5 more documentaries were made, all based on me. Recently, a journalist asked me about that and I simply said that I was still available to work in the documentaries.

I am least interested to work in films. I was shown as myself- Amjad Ali Khan, the violin player- in one of the songs of movie Sparsh and that is enough for me. I still remember that song, Smita Patil brings a blind Naseeruddin Shah into my concert. It was indeed a beautiful film.

However, I never worked in any other film. Yes, I want to give music in the films. To be true, we still remember songs which were composed in 60s and 70s. Songs composed in last ten years or so have comparatively shorter life span. Take a look at the history of the hindi films and it becomes crystal clear that songs dating back to three decades, touched our hearts with their sweetness and simplicity. People still love to sing a few lines of songs like chaudahwi ka chand ho tum…,Dam dam diga diga…and others. Songs composed in last few years are high on oomph factor, the fastness. They are composed in such a way that they become foot-tapping numbers. The only criteria is that it should be fast- words are carelessly superimposed over the music.

It holds true not just for films, but for television shows as well. Even in TV shows, everybody is singing in a standing position. They have no time to sit with the instruments and sing properly. I strongly believe that you can not sing properly unless you are seated. Thats why the biggest of vocal artists used to sit while singing. If singing in a standing position, you can still get hold of the tempo of the track, but not its Sur.

I expressed my willingness to compose music for films and somebody raised a very pertinent question- I am an established name in the music world, did not I get a chance to compose music in the past? I told that I had composed music for many albums. The first of them was Wada, Gulzar sahab had written the lyric for it. There was a serial on Television named Guftagoo. It was based on the lives of 40 shayars. Ghazals written by shayars from Amir Khusro to Mirza Galib were incorporated in this serial and I had composed forthem. Uttam Singh was the music arranger. I composed music for Pankaj Udhas’ album Yara as well, which came last year. In fact, there is a composer inside every musician, its another matter that he keeps them under the wraps. So far as offers from film world are concerned, there is too much of cat fight there. I never tried for it. There is a different kind of rat race, everybody is trying to pip everybody else to the post. My fans come to me, I go for concerts all across the globe. But film industry is a different kettle of fish. You have to make concerted efforts to achieve anything. I dont intend to degrade films, they are a marvellous medium of expressing your thoughts. But it becomes really dissapointing when a film made with a cost of 80-100 crores, fells flat on the box office in the very first show, despite incorporating all the latkas-jhatkas and other ingredients of a hit. Nobody knows which film would be a success at the box office. I think that the most important thing for every director is to have confidence in his project. Perhaps this is the success formula- have confidence in yourself and do your job with honesty.

I am really eager to compose music for a historical film. If any producer-director has faith in my abilities, if he believes I could do justice to the job, he is most welcome. I wish to create something which would be remembered for times to come. Otherwise, I am too busy with myself. I am going to Australia next month for a concert. Still, I am open to spare some time for films and give some memorable compositions to the people. I am a fan of melodious music and wish from the core of my heart that melody comes back to hindi film music.