Yun Hi Chala In Space: 'I'm Deeply Moved'

'This success is not just mine, crores of people have contributed to it.'

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has taken Javed Akhtar's Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi from Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades to space.

"The songs were born from you, but they became big not only because you have written them. They became big because there are crores of people who have appreciated them and some have identified with them," Javedsaab tells Subhash K Jha.

Javedsaab, your song Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi is on its way to space.

What can I say? I am deeply moved.

I still remember the recording in the voices of Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher. When this song was recorded, even then the reaction of people was very positive. Everyone was like koi Ganga nahaye barson mein... all these lines were loved. People liked it a lot.

Your songs of nationalism and desh bhakti have so much thehrao in them.

I think there is a section of my mind which is very committed to nationalism.

When I was a child, the Tricolour used to be hoisted at our house on 15th August and 26th January. I vividly remember how the grownups used to hoist it, then take it down in the evening, how it was wrapped carefully and placed on the top shelf of the cupboard where we used to keep it safely in Lucknow.

During summers in Lucknow it is so hot, but we children used to go out at 4 in the afternoon. When the elders used to sleep, we children used to go out.

I remember one day I went to that room where there was a Tricolour in the cupboard. I pulled a table, climbed onto it and stood on my toes to touch the flag.

This feeling of nationalism does not happen through lectures. It is organic.

Javedsaab, when something so momentous happens, when this man is listening to your song up there in space, does it not give you a sense of pride, a sense of satisfaction?

Of course, it does! But more than that, whatever you have done and what belongs to your past belongs to the past. Past laurels won't help you grow. Whatever is done in the past is done.

Your work is also like your children. Once they became mature, they are persons in their own right. Even the film songs and dialogues they acquire their own personality.

Yes, they were born from you, but they became big not only because you have written them. They became big because there are crores of people who have appreciated them and some have identified with them, so this success is not just mine, crores of people have contributed to it.

The fact that it becomes an iconic thing, it is not just because of the person who made it, it is because of the people who appreciated it, it is because of their emotions, their feelings, their experiences...