Lyricist Swanand Kirkire's work on Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) and 3 Idiots (2009) made him a two-time National Award winner. Ahead of his next release, the Kajol starrer Helicopter Eela, we asked him what the strangest place a lyric has come to him is. Here's what he said:
"I have been accused of writing in the loos and in the toilets, which is true. You tell me who on this Earth doesn't get good ideas in the toilet? Everyone does, even I. It's just that it has become public in my case, people have found out about it. I was writing for a film called Eklavya, which is a Vidhu Vinod Chopra film. It was a big film and we were going to shoot it in the forts of Rajasthan. We had gone there to write as well. Everyone was holding discussions there, Shantanu Moitra was making the songs there. I was a struggler in Bombay. I used to stay at Shiv Dham in Goregaon. And in Jodhpur I was going to the palace. One day I went to the toilet there and it was twice the size of my house. There was a table also inside. There was a fragrance emanating from it, there were perfumes there. It did not seem like a toilet at all. These guys were discussing outside so I went inside quietly and began writing. Shantanu Moitra began teasing me, saying that I write in a toilet. But that toilet was better than all our houses. It was the Umaid Bhawan toilet."