REVEALED: While Jatin-Lalit got the credit for Sarfarosh’s song ‘Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya’, the ghazal was composed by a lesser-known music composer named Dhiraj Dhanak

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

June 21, 2022 - 4:30 PM IST

Sarfarosh released 23 years ago, on April 30, 1999, and is a memorable film for several reasons. One of the USPs of the film, due to which it is remembered fondly, was its amazing soundtrack. Composed by Jatin-Lalit, each song in the film was different from the rest and worth listening to. From the classic ghazal 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya' to the philosophical 'Zindagi Maut Na Ban Jaye' to the funky 'Iss Deewane Ladke Ko' to the seductive number 'Jo Haal Dil Ka' to the foot-tapping dance bar track 'Yeh Jawani Hadh Kar De', the album of Sarfarosh was a class apart.

REVEALED: While Jatin-Lalit got the credit for Sarfarosh’s song ‘Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya’, the ghazal was composed by a lesser-known music composer named Dhiraj Dhanak

Out of all these tracks, 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya' emerged as the most memorable song of the lot. It became one of the greatest ghazal songs ever and one of the finest songs sung by the legendary singer, Jagjit Singh.

Hence, it’ll be a shock to know that while Jatin-Lalit, the composer duo, is credited as the composers of 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya', in reality, they didn’t compose the track. An industry veteran told Bollywood Hungama, “It was composed by a man called Dhiraj Dhanak. He was a music arranger. He has worked on several ad films and in Gujarati cinema. He was the co-background score composer along with Sanjoy Chowdhury, for which he got the credit. But he also composed 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya' for which he didn’t get credit, and that was at his insistence.”

The veteran added, “After Dhiraj Dhanak composed the ghazal song, the director of the film John Matthew Matthan gave the track to Jatin-Lalit. The director wanted the music director duo to compose a fresh ghazal on similar lines and to use 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya' as a reference. However, the song composed by the director duo didn’t match the expectations of the makers. Hence Dhiraj Dhanak’s composition was retained. Jagjit Singh also liked it and he sang the song. It was then decided to give credit to Jatin-Lalit for 'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya'.”

Dhiraj Dhanak had also worked as a music arranger for music composers, Shankar-Jaikishen. The industry veteran continued, “He has a huge body of work. He composed the song 'Pethalpur Ma' in the Gujarati film Kadja No Katko (1990), which was recently recreated in Mitron (2018) as ‘Kamariya’.”

'Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya' earned acclaim from each music fan, and it continues to get adulation even today. “Sadly, Dhiraj Dhanak never got the due and fame that he deserved for composing one of the best songs we’ve heard in our lives. He passed away some 10 years ago,” said the industry veteran and signed off.