What: Himesh Reshammiya unveils Aneek Dhar’s album
Where: Famous Studio, Mumbai
When: Monday (night), 8 September 2008
Present at the Event: Himesh Reshammiya, Aneek Dhar, Pritam, Shankar Mahadevan, Aadesh Srivastava

While the soundtrack of Singh is Kinng is topping the charts the world over, little has been written about the lyricist who has penned these successful numbers - Mayur Puri. From the emerging breed of young and talented dialogue writers-lyricists, Mayur Puri’s name strikes a chord when one talks about songs with distinct Punjabi flavour.

Also to his credit lies that fact that he has penned most of the chartbusters by Pritam, making them knock-out hits. Talking about his work for Singh is Kinng, Mayur fondly says, “I’ve done some of the most popular work of my career, be it for Dhoom or Pyaar Ke Side Effects with Pritam. So there’s an inherent understanding between us. Also Aneezji (Bazmee) and I had been talking about working together for a long time. Finally everything fell into place with Singh is Kinng. And I’m glad I did it; it’s a project close to my heart as I got to revisit my mother tongue in all the songs.”

When quizzed about his favourite track from the film, Mayur is quick to respond, “Actually I have two favourite songs. Jee Karda for its energy and synergy between the Punjabi and English lyrics, and Teri Ore for its softness.” He also shares how Pritam had initially composed three different tunes for Bas Ek Kinng - the track currently topping the charts, and had almost settled for one of the other tunes. After much deliberation from Mayur he used the current tune. In fact even the lyrics were a little different originally, but then a philosophical twist was added to them to go with the message of the film - Being a Kinng is a derivative of positive attitude in life.

Interestingly, while Punjabi is a binding factor among the songs, Mayur has gotten as authentic as it gets in the Daler Mehndi-rendered Bhootnike - using some of the most rustic expressions found in the language. Talking about this track he says, “I really didn’t want this song to be a run-of-the-mill shaadi number, where people come and wish the couple. This is the first song in the film and it really had to set the tone right. So Aneezji and I came up with the idea of making it as real as possible. If you notice, at a wedding, the groom’s friends are always kidding about the end of his independence, and how he found himself such a good looking wife despite being so ugly himself! Bhootnike was written in the same spirit. Akshay’s character has a blast in the song, and he’s performed it beautifully. I’m confident it’ll leave people laughing!”

If the two songs on air are anything to go by, this album looks set to win listeners’ hearts all over!

The title song of the biggest release of 2008…sung by Mika, Neeraj Shridhar, Ashish Pandit, Rap by Hard Kaur, Music by Pritam…SINGH IS KINNG (out on Aug 7)

What: Premiere of My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves
Where: PVR, Juhu, Mumbai
When: January 9, 2008
Celebrities Present at the Event: Amrita Rao, Nikhil Dwivedi, Arjun Rampal, Anil Kapoor, Sohail Khan, Bhoomika Chawla with husband Bharat Thakur, Pritam, Hiten and Gauri Tejwani, Urvashi Dholakia, Kunal Kapoor, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Anupama Verma, E. Niwas, Lillette Dubey and others

What: Premiere of Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal
Where: PVR, Juhu, Mumbai
When: November 22, 2007
Celebrities Present: John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Arshad Warsi, Vivek Agnihotri, Ronnie Screwvala, Suniel Shetty, Ken Ghosh, Anand Raj Anand, Pritam, Urvashi Sharma, Shekhar Suman, Soni Rajdan, Pallavi Joshi, Yukta Mookhey, Manav and Shweta Kohli, Narayani Shastri, Sagarika Ghatge and others