Double meaning was always there even in old songs: Sanjeev Srivastav

How did you foray into music? I was always a good singer. In college, I won several competitions. In 1991, I met my dream composer, RD Burman. I managed to get his number and dialled it. His cook answered and gave me an appointment instantly. At the time, he was working on 1942: A Love Story and a lot of music greats were present at the session. He was amused to see a college boy talking about his inter-collegiate victories. I said I'd like to sing in front of him as I didn't have anything recorded. I sang his composition Diye Jalte Hain, which he liked. He advised me to meet other composers as he didn't have work. I told him even if it was one line, I wanted him to give me a break. A lot of meetings followed. One day, I learnt about his demise and I gave up the idea of entering the music industry. In 1995, I started frequenting Prithvi Theatre. One day, Anurag Kashyap asked us to compose for his play. After that, I started getting offers to compose for TV shows. I dropped out of an MBA course to pursue these offers. I started composing for albums. My debut was with Jaspinder Narula in her debut album Kuch Kuch Dil Mein in 1998. While finishing this album, I was approached by the singer-duo Preeti-Pinki to compose for their debut album, which also became a hit. I got an offer from Meet Brothers to compose for their debut album. In early-2000, I got offers but the films got shelved after the music was composed. Soon, the non-film music scene died out. In 2002, Sanjeev Ratan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's assistant for Kareeb and Mission: Kashmir, approached me to compose for his movie. I completed eight songs, but 10 days before the shoot, I was informed that it had been shelved. I was broken because I had approached Lataji, who had become very choosy by then, to sing the title track.