Exclusive: Arslan Nizami on Saiyaara’s Title Track, Collaboration With Tanishk Bagchi and More

Arslan Nizami recently spoke to Filmfare about Saiyaara’s title track and his first collaboration with YRF. He opened up about making the title track with Faheem Abdullah and receiving mentorship from none other than Tanishk Bagchi. The singer-songwriter also shared about his childhood inspirations, learning music from his father and struggling to stay in Mumbai to make a mark. Excerpts…

How did Saiyaara come to you?

It was destined to be. The story of Saiyaara is a bit different. We never thought that we were going to put this song in a film like this. Faheem Abdullah and I just gave ourselves a chance to just go out of Kashmir, out of the mountains and out of the valley to try our luck in Mumbai. We gave ourselves 14 days with some of the savings that we had. We struggled a lot for almost 13 days. We met a lot of people but nothing happened. On the 13th day, I met Tanishk Bagchi. Faheem and I played some of our songs to him. It didn’t have Saiyaara in it. But he really liked the vibe, the lyrics and the compositions. That’s how our journey started.

Was this your first collaboration in Mumbai?

For a banner, yes it was. It was our first collaboration with YRF.

What was the collaboration like with Tanishk Bagchi?

There’s this simple story about Saiyaara. Actually, it was not supposed to be Saiyaara but Saiyaa Mera. So I had written some of the lines with Faheem. The lines went, “Saiyaa mera toh badla nahi, mausam zara sa rootha hua hai.” Faheem wrote these and composed the first two lines. He gave the composition to me and asked me to finish it. I started writing the lyrics. I started composing at the same time and finished quite a lot. It was supposed to be a single. We never thought that it would be for a movie. When we came to Mumbai last year, dada (Tanishk Bagchi) called us for the movie. He asked if we had anything. We were planning to release the song next month but Tanishk dada’s call was enough to convince us that we should make him listen to it. Dada liked it. Then Faheem and I composed it together and gave it a proper structure.

When did Saiyaa Mera change to Saiyaara? Did Mohit Suri have any inputs while you were creating the song?

When it was Saiyaa Mera, Tanishk Bagchi made us meet Mohit Suri. Mohit sir liked the vibe but didn’t have a title for the song. Mohit sir was briefing us about the song and the situation. He was telling us how it is going to be. It was in Tanishk dada’s studio. After a couple of weeks, we came to know that Saiyaa Mera is going to be Saiyaara. They had then decided to name the movie Saiyaara. The process started with a simple guitar and lines. It was very raw and emotional.

What was the joy like when you realised that the song is going to be for a YRF movie?

We were elated. I have been doing this for the past 10 years now. At first we really didn’t realize that we were seriously doing a song for YRF. When Tanishk dada said it was going to be for YRF, I still remember, I called him thrice the same day. I was like ‘Tanishk dada, are you kidding? Are you joking with us? Is it for real? He was like, ‘Yes, we’re doing it. Don’t worry about it. Just work on this.’ I’ll not be able to explain in words how special I feel about working with YRF and Mohit sir giving us this opportunity to make a song for him. I’ve always been a fan of Mohit sir, I’ve always been watching his movies. Not only Faheem and I, everybody from Kashmir has been a die-hard fan of Mohit sir.

Did you also interact with Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda?

When we made the song, Faheem told me about this experience where Ahaan had heard the song for the first time. He got emotional about the song because this was supposed to be the main song of the movie. In fact, Tanishk Bagchi told me that Mohit sir had heard almost 300 to 350 songs before selecting ours.

How has the mentor-mentee relationship been with Tanishk Bagchi?

Tanishk dada has always been a mentor. Dada has been guiding us in every aspect of life. I think when we came to Mumbai, we went to a lot of places but Dada was the first guy who believed in us. He said we have something which others won’t understand. There’s a right time for both of you, just wait and watch and the right time will come and you guys will shine. So, I think in that way, Dada has been guiding us. I met him in 2022 when I just left my job and came to Mumbai alongside Faheem. Since then, Dada has been guiding us with each and everything. I’m always grateful for Dada.