And Prakash Jha is in a panic. He needs record a patriotic song before Raajneeti goes on its global journey. This is easier said than done. Gulzar's words and Wayne Sharpe's composition are not as easy to coalesce as the poet and A R Rahman's association over Jai Ho.
The idea was to find another global catch-phrase to equal the easy reach of Jai ho.
Gulzar's tryst with ‘destination' persists. While his Jai ho is still reverberating across the globe, the poet par excellence has now conceived another patriotic catch- phrase which would hopefully reverberate across the globe with as much intensity as the earlier number.
Dhan dhan dharti is the title of the patriotic song that Gulzar Saab has written for Raajneeti. The lyrics are at this very moment being composed into music by the American composer Wayne Sharpe who's taken on the daunting task of incorporating the tune for Vande mataram into Gulzar words. This is the first time in his entire career that Gulzar Saab has collaborated with an international composer.
The process is far more complex than it seems.
Explains the Raajneeti director Prakash Jha, "We've just taken the basic core notes of Vande Mataram and then built our own patriotic song almost from scratch."
The brief to Gulzar Saab and Wayne Sharp was to create the ultimate patriotic song with a global appeal that would usurp Jai ho from the international charts.
Laughs Prakash, "We are't trying to be one-up on any other song. But the idea was to make the song reflective of the collective Indian psyche."
Dhan dhan dharti will now be released across the globe in a couple of weeks as soon as the right male voice is chosen to render the number. Prakash Jha says the song is perfect for the late Mohd Rafi. Who fills the lacuna is now being debated.