'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a vulgar title': Javed Akhtar refused to write film's songs

Do you know? Bollywood’s veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar refused to write songs for filmmaker Karan Johar’s debut movie ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ because he found the title to be ‘vulgar’.

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One of Bollywood’s most celebrated lyricists, Sameer Anjaan, who also wrote mesmerizing love anthems of ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, revealed in a new interview that he was not the first choice of Karan Johar for the job, and only got the chance to write songs for the filmmaker’s debut movie only after he was turned down by the veteran.

Anjaan disclosed that Javed Akhtar refused to write the songs because he found the title to be ‘vulgar’.

“He asked Karan Johar to change the title and then only he would work on it because he liked the story but didn’t like the title at all,” he shared.

When asked if he did not agree with Akhtar and found ‘vulgarity’ in the name, he responded, “I never found any vulgarity in it. Main young tha aur mujhe usme kuch vulgar laga hi nahi. Mujhe baad me pta laga ki Javed Saab ka ye khayal tha ki, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai koi title hai?’ Jab mai likhne baitha, tab mai young tha, aur uss pyaar ke ehsaas mai dooba hua tha, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai kab hota hai? Jab aap pyaar mein hote hain (I was young and I didn’t find anything vulgar in the title. I got to know that Javed Sahab didn’t approve of the title much later. When I started writing, I imagined how one feels when they are in love).”

“I believed that if the director has kept this name, then he must have thought it through and there must be some story behind it,” Anjaan maintained.

Also Read: ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ reimagined as a ‘murder mystery’ and you cannot disagree!

Notably, celebrated filmmaker Karan Johar’s directorial debut starred one of the most iconic trios, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kajol with an extended cameo of Salman Khan.

The cult flick was a major success both in India as well as abroad and claimed multiple Box Office records in 1998, in addition to several prestigious awards.