Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se remains iconic not just for its powerful narrative but also for its unforgettable music, composed by AR Rahman. Among its standout tracks was ‘Satrangi Re’, choreographed by Farah Khan and featuring Shah Rukh Khan alongside Manisha Koirala. While the song became visually and musically memorable, Farah revealed that bringing it to life wasn’t without its challenges, especially when it came to understanding the lyrics written by Gulzar.In a recent conversation with Ranveer Allahbadia, Farah shared that the team was shooting in Ladakh when she struggled to grasp the meaning of the song. To decode it, she turned to her uncle, veteran writer Javed Akhtar. She said, “I did not understand the meaning of this song because Gulzar sahab had written some difficult words in it. You will not believe that I had to call Javed Akhtar to ask him to translate Gulzar’s lyrics for me. On top of that Mani Ratnam did not know Hindi, the cameraman didn’t know Hindi, AR Rahman (the composer) didn’t know Hindi. So from Ladakh, I was calling Javed uncle to understand the lyrics of the song. Javed Uncle asked, ‘Yeh kya likha hai? Yeh kisne likha hai? (Who has written this?).”
She also revealed a fun twist years later, when she worked with Javed Akhtar again for Om Shanti Om. Wanting a quirky, over-the-top track for “Dard-E-Disco”, she asked him to channel Gulzar’s poetic style in a deliberately nonsensical way. “After that, 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 way. In 5 minutes, Javed uncle wrote that song.” 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 had also recalled how even Mani Ratnam was puzzled by the deeper meaning of ‘Satrangi Re’. She said, “The funniest part was Gulzar sahab had written this part of the song that described the seven stages of love. Mani sir doesn’t know Hindi, so he was asking us. We couldn’t understand what’s written, so I used to call up Javed uncle and say, ‘Ye kya likha hai, mujhe explain karo’ (Please explain what’s written to me). ‘Halka-halka uns hua.’ What’s uns (affection)?,” recalled Farah.