My entire life and all my work from now on is only dedicated to my brother: Sajid Khan

This year has been difficult for music composer Sajid Khan for a number of reasons, and the most important of them was the fact that he lost his younger brother Wajid Khan on June 1. Wajid who was one half of the composer duo Sajid-Wajid, was an integral part of Sajid’s personal as well as professional life. Having composed several songs together, the duo came to be known as one of the most popular composers in Bollywood. So, naturally, it was very difficult for Sajid to come to terms with Wajid’s demise. “My entire life and all my work from now on is only dedicated to my brother. Even now, when I compose a song, unn gaano mein kuch aise sur lag jaate hai which was always Wajid’s favourite. Automatically, the entire song becomes very different and suddenly, I realise ki yeh sur toh Wajid lagata tha, and it comes out of me automatically,” says Sajid.

The composer released a new song titled Jeet Jayenge Hum on Independence Day, and dedicated it to his brother. “I had actually made this song for my family and Wajid had told me that this is a family song but it will work very well in the context for our country as well. And that’s why we decided to now release it for Independence Day. When I was discussing this song with Kunal Verma, he came up with some beautiful lyrics for the song, and then we decided that we needed a mesmerising voice for this song. That’s when we thought of Mohit Chauhan. He agreed to do this song over just a call even though he is out of town. It is a very different kind of patriotic song, and the situation right now is such that there a lot of hearts that are crying right now in our country, so we decided acknowledge those feelings on this Independence Day,” explains Sajid, adding that all the work happened over phone and video calls. “We did everything over phone only this time because everyone is in different places right now, and we are all professionals so we all have studios in our homes, so it was not that difficult. We executed it all over calls and video chats,” he says.

Expressing the immense grief he feels over the passing of his brother, Sajid says, “Main itne aansu baha chuka hoon ki meri aankhein chalni hogayi hai. Main kya bolu... now I have realised that all my life I am going to be like this. My being alone is his memory only. I am living that memory with him. All my work is thanks to him... everything that he taught me and incorporated in me are manifesting themselves automatically in my newer compositions. So, I am very thankful to almighty that I am still able to make music without him being by my side. I was really scared about what would I do without him, but whenever I am alone, I call out to him and ask him to come give me a hug. I still WhatsApp him and send messages to him,” concludes Sajid.