EK AUTOGRAPH KI KEEMAT TUM KYA JAANO ANAND BABU?

Hello. My name is Shamir Tandon and I am a music composer.

There is a big auditorium in Mumbai called the Shanmukhananda, this is the largest in Mumbai, in fact the entire Asia.

Sometime in 1991-92, there was a huge Kalyanji-Anadji concert that was organized at the Shanmukhananda auditorium.

It was Kalyanji–Anandji featuring a whole set of celebrities like Kumar Sanu, Sudesh Bhosale, Sadhna Sargam, Alka Yagnik etc, but the biggest name in this list was…. AMITABH BACHCHAN!  Amitabh Bachchan in this event was obviously the highlight!

The tickets were extremely expensive and why not, Kalyanji-Anandji were at the top of their career, Tridev had just released with Oye Oye and all the other songs becoming chartbusters. Bachchan saahab was on the top of his game too. In the concert he was going to sing – mere angne mein and many of his hits along with dancing on these songs!

It was a show that no one would ever want to miss!

I used to come from a very modest background of a lower middle class where we could never afford the tickets of such concerts. So to fulfill my passion to see the celebrities in these concerts, I used to go inside during the interval. That time the entry guards used to be very easy, the checking would be much lesser at the gate, so I would just sneak in randomly. There was always the fear of being caught without the ticket, but I would still try!

As the interval of this event happened, I somehow entered the auditorium fooling the guards and reached the backstage. During the interval there was a huge queue of people standing to take an autograph with Mr Bachchan obviously!

On one corner were sitting the musical geniuses, Kalyanji-Anandji, the architects of this concert and the architects of showmanship in India.

From my childhood I always dreamt of being a music composer. For me, they were the gurus, I wanted to touch their feet and seek their autograph.

When I went to Anandji Bhai who was the shorter of the 2 and asked for his autograph, he couldn’t comprehend why I wanted his autograph when the entire audience in the queue was eagerly waiting to get to Mr Bachchan.

 

“Arey aap bhi line mein lag jao, lambu ki photo le lo na…”

“But sir, I don’t want his autograph, I want yours!”

 

Still thinking that I was trying to flatter him, he held my finger and took me towards the queue. I told him again 

“Sir my objective is to be you, you are my idol and I need your autograph!”

 He finally believed me and gave me his autograph! It is my pleasure to say, he was mighty impressed with my focus and persistence in being with him rather the MAN over there who was so full of glamour!

Can you believe it, he also scribbled his number on  that autograph? Yes he did!

I called him the next day.

It has been 30 years to that day today. I am very blessed to say that the love he showers on me is phenomenal, and he treats me like his 4^th son!

That 1 autograph actually changed our equation!

Shamir Tandon is a music composer. He has composed ad jingles, non-film albums, collaborated with international artists and composed many songs in bollywood. He has been active from 2003 and has created beautiful songs for movies like Page 3, Traffic Signal, Bluffmaster, Corporate, Jail, Piku, Khamoshi and many more!

This article has been written by Pooja Gupta. She is a freelance writer, anchor and a former Radio Jockey. She is into all sorts of writing like ads, articles, promos, short films, screenplays, dialogues, feature films and even web series. For work, she can be contacted on pooja.gupta2178@yahoo.com.