Ramesh Taurani reveals how his Rs. 5 lakh cheque helped Salman Khan get paid and kickstarted Patthar Ke Phool – a film that was NEVER supposed to be made

Ramesh Taurani and Kumar Taurani spoke to Komal Nahta about their journey and experience of working on the music of some important films in their career. At the beginning, Ramesh Taurani said, “The first film whose music rights we acquired was Gunahon Ka Devta (1990). We paid Rs. 2.25 lakhs for it. We both didn’t sleep for 2 nights as we had paid Rs. 25,000 to the makers. Then we wondered, ‘Inko Rs. 2 lakhs chukayenge kaise?’ (laughs)! We also bought the music rights of Elaan-E-Jung (1989), which, again was an action film. We wanted to prove ourselves. So, we installed 6 hoardings for this film in Mumbai, in places like Bandra, Juhu, etc. Imagine a music company putting up posters, that too of an action film. But it worked as it sparked a discussion among filmmakers. They felt ki ‘Yeh toh acchi music company hai’!”

Ramesh continued, “Then, we bagged the rights of Patthar Ke Phool (1991). Bhagyashree took the full credit for Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). 3 months after its release, Salman Khan didn’t have any film in its pipeline. That’s when Salim saab asked G P Sippy saab to announce that he was producing Salman’s next film. He told Sippy saab, ‘Bhale aap picture mat banao lekin aapke announcement se ek boost milega’.”

Ramesh Taurani revealed, “It was in Film Information magazine where I read that G P Sippy has signed Salman Khan. The news got published on Saturday and on Monday, I was in G P Sippy saab’s office. I expressed the desire to acquire the music rights. I asked him, ‘Have you signed any music director?’. He replied, ‘No’. I then asked if he had got a lyricist on board. He told me, ‘We haven’t done that either’. I requested him to get the Maine Pyar Kiya team again – music director Raamlaxman, lyricist Dev Kohli, and singers S P Balasubrahmanyam and Lata Mangeshkar! I told him, ‘Yeh combination hi aap lena. Aap bataiye aapka price kya hai?’.”

Ramesh added, “G P Sippy saab confessed that he hadn’t given much thought to the music and asked me to meet him after 2 days. Meanwhile, he was in touch with Viveck Vaswani, who wished to make an Rs. 80 lakh project called Patthar Ke Phool. Viveck wanted to sign Salman Khan and Ravi Tandon’s daughter, Raveena Tandon. Sippy saab initially declined, saying that it was a small project while they were used to making big-budget films. But after he met me, he felt, ‘Music ka aadmi aa gaya kheeli ek announcement pe. Toh iss project ko active karte hain’ (smiles).”

Ramesh Taurani stated, “Hence, he called Viveck Vaswani and the next day, he met Raamlaxman and discussed his fees. He asked for Rs. 12 lakhs. A day later, G P Sippy saab met me and told me, ‘Woh bahut mehenga hai. Rs. 12 lakh maanga’. Those days, Anand-Milind’s music rights used to be sold for Rs. 2-3 lakhs, while Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s music rights were sold in the range of Rs. 3-5 lakhs. I was in a spot as I was the one who had suggested Raamlaxman’s name! Finally, we negotiated and bought the rights for Rs. 10 lakhs.”

Ramesh then said, “We gave G P Sippy saab the first cheque amounting to Rs. 5 lakhs. From that amount, payments were made to Salman, Raveena and Salim saab, who was also the film’s writer. That’s how the film went on floors!”

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