Tips Music, co-founded by brothers Kumar Taurani and Ramesh Taurani, went from a small music shop in 1975 to one of India’s biggest music labels by the 1980s. The two brothers, who have also entered film production, recently revealed their three most expensive acquisitions over the years. And all three albums have one name in common — veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai.

Tips Music’s most expensive albums

Talking about Tips Music’s most expensive albums on the Game Changers podcast, Kumar shared, “Back in the time, it was Yaadein, Taal, and probably Pardes.” Pardes (1997), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Mahima Chaudhry, had music by Nadeem-Shravan and lyrics by Anand Bakshi. It included memorable songs like Kumar Sanu’s “Do Dil Mil Rahe Hain”, Sanu and Alka Yagnik’s “Meri Mehbooba”, Sonu Nigam’s “Yeh Dil Deewana”, and Kavitha Krishnamurthy and Hariharan’s “I Love My India”.

Two years later came Taal, starring Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna, and Anil Kapoor. Composed by AR Rahman, the album boasts of evergreen tracks like Yagnik and Udit Narayan’s title track “Taal Se Taal”, Anuradha Sriram and Nigam’s “Ishq Bina”, Hariharan’s “Nahin Saamne Tu”, Asha Bhosle’s “Kahin Aag Lage Lag Jaaye”, and Sukhwinder Singh and Yagnik’s “Ramta Jogi”, among others.

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Besides Subhash Ghai, legendary lyricist Anand Bakshi is another common link between the three albums, having written the lyrics for Yaadein as well. The 2001 romantic drama, starring Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, didn’t work at the box office, but Anu Malik’s compositions like “Jab Dil Mile”, “Eli Re Eli”, and the title track “Yaadein Yaad Aati Hai” stood the test of time.

Film’s success and album’s success go hand in hand

Reflecting on Tips Music’s long-standing association with Subhash Ghai, Kumar Taurani said their successful collaborations were rooted in mutual respect and continuity.

“Subhash Ghai would respect us a lot. We were happy with him. He’s a sweet killer. But I’ve observed over the years that with whichever director or producer our kundali matches, those films work as well as their music. There should be continuity. And whenever that continuity has broken, those films haven’t worked.”

Responding to the observation that Yaadein didn’t work at the box office, Kumar said, “There can be exceptions in life, but generally speaking, the banners which continued to work with us succeeded. Our record is that 80% to 90% of films that we acquired got a good opening because of our promotional strategy.”

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He then quoted the instance of late filmmaker Kuku Kohli, with whom they collaborated on “three to four films”, right from his directorial debut, 1991 action romance Phool Aur Kaante, which marked the debut of Ajay Devgn. “But there was one film which we didn’t like the look of, and he was also asking for a lot of money, that didn’t work at the box office. There are a lot of films like that. I think there should be a taalmel between the label and the producer,” added Kumar Taurani.