This Article is From Feb 03, 2011

Azamgarh boy pens World Cup theme song

Azamgarh: The Uttar Pradesh connect in the upcoming ICC cricket World Cup doesn't end with just the players from the state in the Indian squad.

The World Cup official theme song - 'De Ghuma Ke', which has already made cricket fans dance to its tunes, has been penned by songwriter Manoj Yadav who hails from  Azamgarh district of the state.

"My lyrics being selected as the theme song of the World Cup is a matter of great honour for me and the composition prepared by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is very beautiful," Manoj told PTI over phone.

I hope that the theme song will appeal to the audiences," he added.

The song will be played during the inaugural ceremony as well as between the matches during the tournament starting February 19.

Manoj, who now stays in Mumbai, said an effort has been made to highlight the excitement associated with the game along with the minute details of its various aspects.

"The idea behind writing a song about cricket is very small and limited to ball, bat and bails, but the organisers of the World Cup wanted some freshness in the theme. Therefore each and every line of the song has been written after much thought," he said.

Manoj, who was born in Azamgarh and brought up in Mumbai, is not new to writing songs for cricket.

Many may not know, but he also penned 'Ek Desh Ek Junnon', the title song of Indian Premier League (IPL) South Africa version held in 2009.

"The basic idea was to weave the excitement and passion of cricket in words," Manoj said.

"For instance, the lines aasman mein maar ke dubki is an attempt to create a visual effect of fielding and sarr se cheer hawa ka parda an attempt to highlight thrill of fast
bowling," he said.

Despite all the success, Manoj still considers writing three songs for crossover film 'West is West', which were composed by Shanker-Ehsan-Loy, his biggest achievement.
.