Mani Ratnam‘s Dil Se remains iconic not only for its powerful narrative but also for its unforgettable music composed by AR Rahman. Among his notable songs was ‘Satrangi Re’ choreographed by Farah Khan and starring. Shah Rukh Khan Along with Manisha Koirala. While the song was visually and musically memorable, Farah revealed that bringing it to life was not without its challenges, especially when it came to understanding the lyrics penned by Gulzar.In a recent interview Ranveer Allahbadia, Farah shared that the team was shooting in Ladakh when he struggled to grasp the meaning of the song. To decode it, he turned to his uncle, a veteran writer Javed Akhtar. He said, “I didn’t understand the meaning of this song because Gulzar sahab wrote difficult words in it. You won’t believe that I had to call Javed Akhtar to ask him to translate Gulzar’s lyrics. Besides, Mani Ratnam didn’t know Hindi, the cameraman didn’t know Hindi, AR Rahman (composer) didn’t know Hindi. So from Ladakh, I used to call uncle Javed to understand the lyrics of the song. Uncle Javed asked, ‘Yeh kya likha hai? Yeh kisne likha hai? (Who wrote this?).“She also revealed a fun twist years later when she worked with Javed Akhtar again for Om Shanti Om. Wanting a whimsical and over-the-top song for “Dard-E-Disco”, he asked Gulzar to channel his poetic style in a deliberately nonsensical way. “Later, when we were doing ‘Dard-E-Disco’, I told Javed uncle that I want a nonsensical song, but I want it in Gulzar sahab’s style. Javed uncle wrote that song in 5 minutes.” The track was sung by Sukhwinder Singh, composed by Vishal-Shekhar, and choreographed by Farah herself. Notably, Javed Akhtar’s first wife Honey Irani is Farah’s aunt, which explains their close bond.Earlier, speaking on the Take 2 podcast, Farah also recalled that Mani Ratnam was impressed with the deeper meaning of ‘Satrangi Re’. He said, “The funniest part was that Gulzar sahab wrote this part of the song describing the seven stages of love. Mani sir doesn’t know Hindi, so he was asking us. We couldn’t understand what he wrote, so I used to call Javed uncle and say, ‘Ye kya likha hai, mujhe karo to explain’ (Please explain what he wrote). ‘Halka-Halka uns hua’. What is uns (affection)?” Farah recalled.
