“It is a pacy thriller with a lot of action and high energy, but the songs are extremely important to the narrative,’ says Joshi who has written five songs, all composed by AR Rahman, for the Aamir starrer.

The film is a remake of a Tamil movie that was released three years ago, with songs written by N. Muthukumar, but Joshi says the Hindi soundtrack is completely original. ‘I did not even listen to the southern version as I did not want to be influenced in anyway,’ says Joshi, who, however, watched bits of the film to ‘gather a feel of it’.

A little-known fact about ad man Joshi is that he is a trained classical musician who likes to compose and sing as well, but he has given them a miss in ‘Ghajini’. “I think it is very important for a lyricist to have a sense of music since it’s then that the song shapes up wholly,” says Joshi. He has composed and sung jingles for Alpenliebe and Happy Dent, among others. ‘But it’s not something I’d do for films,’ he says.

Bollywood has heard enough complaints of Aamir Khan’s interference, but Joshi thinks otherwise. “He is a very intelligent man and when he has a suggestion, it’s often valid. When it is not, we argue a lot and whoever has a more powerful logic wins. So I’d say there’s close understanding and mutual respect that allow us to bounce ideas off each other,” he says.