The story of the songs….by Big B himself.

Saara zamana, Yaarana, in Kolkata I gave the idea for the song to (producer) Habib Nadiadwala, who is also a dear friend. I had been to Kolkata earlier to shoot some films. The paagalpan and affection that Kolkata fans have for stars is unbelievable. I thought that if we shoot in Kolkata, the public would come in huge numbers and we would get a natural crowd to shoot with. The Netaji Subhash stadium had been recently built at the time and it seemed most appropriate. Meanwhile, I happened to see a film poster of Robert Redford. He was riding a horse wearing a chamkila outfit. I thought why not wear an outfit with bulbs which would flicker with the rhythm of the song? I conveyed this to Akbar miyaan, who used to stitch my clothes then. He managed to get the internal electrical wiring done for the outfit. In those days, there was no concept of batteries. The wires led to one mota wire which would pass through the clothes and had to be plugged into a 220-volts socket. The stadium was huge. This meant that from centrestage, the shooting area, to the back, we needed 30-40 people to take care of the wire. I had given instructions that if at any point, I start flying or contorting abnormally, then something had gone wrong with the wire and that I was getting electrocuted. The other challenge was the uncontrollable crowd. Police aayi, maar peet hui. People started to pull out and hurl the seats. I tried to calm them down but when I failed, the police asked us to wrap up the shoot. Only half the song had been shot and we had to come back to Mumbai. Everybody was worried about continuity. We decided to shoot the remaining portion in the night in the stadium. Someone was sent to light 12,000-13,000 candles at night, instead of having people there. We took an evening flight, finished the song and returned by the morning flight. That explains the day and night difference. 
Dekha Na haaye re, Bombay to Goa, in Madras I remember working very hard on this song, which was picturised inside a bus. PL Rajmaster was our choreographer. He was very kadak. If you didn't get your steps right, he would scold us and even beat us. Initially, we were to take a bus from Mumbai to Goa and shoot the song on our way. But as we reached Andheri, the bus broke down. So we erected a set at the Nagi Reddy Studios in Madras where the song was shot. Since I was new in the industry, I would stay with Mehmood bhaijaan, who used to encourage me a lot by shouting, "Come on, Tiger! You can do it!" The whole star cast comprising 40 members would stand outside the bus and encourage me a lot after every shot. Mehmood bhai would make me drink a lot of juice and then say, "Jao, naacho!" 
Nadiya kinaare, Abhimaan, in Belgaum This film was very special for Jaya and me because we had produced it. Hrishida was our godfather. SD Burman saab gave the music and the time we spent with him during the music sittings was unforgettable. The way he’d sing, we failed to bring the essence into our recordings. I always felt that there was some kami somewhere, he would sing so beautifully. The song was shot in a village near Belgaum. Hrishida wanted a village environment with a small temple, a river, a sacred pond with its water capable of uniting two people in love. We found such a pond. Back then, Jaya and I weren't married. It was a very special time for both of us. Jaya had long, ankle-length hair then. 
Kabhi kabhie, Kabhi kabhie, in Srinagar We stayed in Srinagar for a month with Yashji and the cast. When we wanted, we would shoot, jab mann hota tha, we’d go boating or for a picnic. It had a huge star cast, who came with their families for the summer vacation.Everyday a member of some family prepared food in the kitchen. We shot in an extremely cordial environment, which is visible throughout the movie. The lyrics were written by Saahir Ludhianvisaab. Both Yashji and I doubted whether the film will be accepted. Back then, I was doing films like Deewar, Sholay and Zanjeer. People wondered, "How will he carry off the romantic role, he is the angry young man.” But as an artist, I believe, every actor should do all kinds of roles. Yashji was confident though. He wanted no maar-dhaad, only romance. How right he was. 

Neela Aasman, Silsila, in Delhi I suggested this song to Yashji. He wanted a soft, melodious song for the film. I did many films with Shammi Kapoorji who was very dear to me and is now family. Often, when we were not shooting, he would hum something. He was very fond of music and whenever I went to his place, he would sing a Pahari tune, which he finally lent to this song. I recommended this to Yashji. I asked Shammiji for his permission to include this tune in the film. He readily agreed. (Composers) Hariji and Shivji loved it and asked me to sing. I am not a singer, but I managed to sing it. But when my family and friends heard it they said, "We beg you, please don't ever sing in your life again. Yeh behuda kisam ka gaana hai." The movie was shot mostly in Delhi or Kashmir. This song was picturised in a farm house in Delhi at night. 
Yeh dosti , Sholay, in Ramanagram Sholay took two-and-a-half years to make. Ramesh Sippy would make the film aaram se. Much of the film was set in the rocky terrain of Ramanagram, a village near Bangalore. It was difficult to ride the bike because of the side car. Ramesh Sippy wanted a shot where Dharamji had to climb on my shoulder. Aaj yeh sab hum nahin kar payenge, tab jawaani ka josh tha. The most khatarnaak shot was the one where the side car had to break away and then come back together. The camera was loaded on a car, and we had to ride the motorcycle and move in tandem with the car with the camera. He wanted the camera to come from one galli, and we from another. Then we didn’t have a walkie-talkie and had no clue how we managed to stay in sync with the rhythm and reached the decided point where we had to come together. We don’t know how, but we did it in one take. Bhagwaan ki badi kripa hai. 
Amar Akbar Anthony, in Mumbai Manmohan Desai would think of ajab gaane, ajab situations. When he would narrate them, our first instinct was to start laughing. He would think of the song first, and then work the scenes around it. Nobody had faith in him. We thought, “Yeh paagal ho gaya hai. Aise kaise ho sakta hai ki ek aadmi ande se nikle, wearing a sola topi singing My name is Anthony Gonsalves?” But this is what worked.It was filmed at the Holiday Inn lobby in Juhu. For this recording, he wanted me to put in agdam-tigdam words. I thought if we’re going mad, why not add to the paagalpan? When we were in the recording with Laxmikant-Pyarelalji, I was asked what I’m going to say. I said I don’t remember, but when it starts, kuch karlenge. The song was recorded in a famous studio in Tardeo. When I started in the industry, I was told that everyday, songs are recorded here and I should try to meet someone. I used to wait on the streets watching Rafisaab, Lataji, and others go in. I did not have the himmat to approach them. All the musicians wanted to crowd in the small recording room. I felt happy to be here. Back then, songs were recorded in one take. If anyone made a mistake, they had to start all over. I had to sit between the big gaayaks and mouth ‘sophisticated, intoxication etc.’ I managed to do it in one take. I thought, bach gaye!