Shabbir Ahmed to pen lyrics for sci-fi comedy 'Mangal Ho'

Shabbir Ahmed, who has penned songs like "Teri meri" and "Jumme ki raat", is venturing into a new zone with the commercial sci-fi comedy "Mangal Ho". He finds it challenging, but he is putting in an extra effort to entertain the audience.

"They (makers) gave me a situation for 'Mangal Ho' and I wrote a few compositions according to that, and they loved it.

"They already had 50 songs from some of the renowned names, but my songs, one after the other perfectly fit in with the situations, and the songs got locked in," Ahmed told IANS when asked how he came on board for "Mangal Ho".

Ahmed is known to give funny and catchy phrases in popular songs like "20 20" from "Welcome Back"; "Chaar shanivaar" from "All Is Well"; "Jumme ki raat hai" from "Kick"; and "Pinky" from "Zanjeer".

But he believes that penning the lyrics of a commercial sci-fi comedy such as "Mangal Ho" pulled him out of his comfort zone.

He said: "'Mangal Ho' is something new for me. And that's why I've been doing a bit of homework on this and readying lines according to the script.

"When you're assigned a task which you don't know much about, it's better to work in this manner."

Ahmed says that his lyrics for the songs blend well with the theme of the planet Mars and the title "Mangal Ho".

"I'm giving a serious thought about the lyrics to ensure it's commercial and that it doesn't drift towards philosophy.

"We just want to do something which connects with the audience," he said.

He said there were several music directors for the film, but it was finally the film's director Pritish Chakraborty's call on which songs to retain.

"I write according to the situation... as situation is a hero in its own. While writing according to the situation, sometimes you also have to look at the actor.

"Sanjay Mishra and Annu Kapoor are outstanding actors and are veterans of the field. But depending on the story, we just work hard to create a commercial or hit song which the audience likes," said Ahmed, when asked if the image of the actors played an important role in penning the lyrics for the film.

"Mangal Ho" takes a humorous look at the possibility of life on Mars.

Sanjay Mishra plays a Bengali businessman, while Annu Kapoor plays a Punjabi scientist in the film, which is jointly produced by Ascent Films Pvt Ltd and M.K. Media Pvt Ltd.