The composition of "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" was especially time-consuming – on the day of the song's recording, Naushad rejected two sets of lyrics made by Shakeel Badayuni.
[1][2] Late in the night, Naushad remembered a folk song from eastern Uttar Pradesh with the lyrics going as "Prem kiya, kya chori kari hai..." ("I have loved, does it mean that I have stolen?").
His part in the song is meant to represent the voice of Tansen, one of Akbar's Nine Jewels, considered to have had the ability to bring rain from the sky and light candles in the dark with his singing.
In many lines of the song, the courtesan taunts the great emperor by repeatedly declaring her refusal to hide her true feelings even in the face of likely death.
[1] A heavily discussed aspect of the set was the presence of numerous small mirrors made of Belgian glass, which were crafted and designed by workers from Firozabad.