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Indian Express

‘Mahesh Bhatt gave it in writing that he'll quit direction if Aashiqui flopped, Gulshan Kumar wanted to scrap the film and release it as an album,' recalls Sameer

Film director Mahesh Bhatt had been in the movies for quite some time when he made the 1990 film Aashiqui. Before this, he had made some acclaimed films like Saraansh, Naam and Arth but Bhatt was yet to get fame as a mainstream commercial director in the movies. For Bhatt, Aashiqui was a semi-autobiographical film as it was based on his love story with his first wife, Kiran Bhatt, and he chanced upon the opportunity to make this film after listening to its music album. Lyric writer Sameer, in a chat on The Kapil Sharma Show, shared that he and music composers Nadeem Shravan were initially making some songs just for the music bank of T-Series' head Gulshan Kumar, who was thinking of shopping them around for film producers. But when Mahesh Bhatt listened to those songs, he was instantly convinced to make a film based on them. 'After the film was made, he called it Aashiqui,' Sameer shared and added that while the songs were great, Gulshan wasn't convinced about the film and felt that the music album did not sound like a film album, and he was actually considering scrapping the film. 'He said that people think this is a music album, and not a film. So I am thinking I won't release this film and I will only release a music album,' he said. Sameer immediately called Nadeem-Shravan with this information, and they went to Mahesh Bhatt with this news. Bhatt visited Gulshan Kumar and was ready to bet everything he had on Aashiqui. 'Bhatt saab said, 'If this film and this album doesn't break all records in the music industry then I will give up direction',' Sameer recalled. When Gulshan asked him if he was ready to give this in writing, Mahesh readily agreed. 'Bhatt saab wrote it on a paper and signed it,' he said. Gulshan Kumar also held his end and said that he too would sign the piece of paper and promised the best possible marketing campaign that anyone had ever seen. Even after all of this, Gulshan did not have complete faith in the project as he told Mahesh that he wasn't fully convinced about the casting of Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal. 'He felt that the hero and heroine were not as good looking. He wasn't very fond of them. Bhatt saab said 'I will find a way. I won't reveal their faces on the poster. We will cover their faces with a jacket',' Sameer recalled. Aashiqui was one of the biggest hits of the year and the music of the film continues to get a lot of love from the audience.