Is the older guard making room for edgier lyricists who can wing a mukhda in minutes? Does the evolving language of Hindi film leave no room for Urdu romanticism? Sunday MiD DAY gets inside the heads of new age lyricists
Is the older guard making room for edgier lyricists who can wing a mukhda in minutes? Does the evolving language of Hindi film leave no room for Urdu romanticism? Sunday MiD DAY gets inside the heads of new age lyricists
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IT'S no longer enough if soundtracks are filled with purple verse straight out of an Urdu poet's heart. Audiences want lyrics that speak to them "conversational lyrics" as the strapping young song writer Amitabh Bhattacharya, who wrote the wicked Emosanal atyachar for Dev. D, puts it. Words like ishq, jigar, sanam and even mohabbat could be jarring to the audience today, Amitabh reckons.
"They belonged to the Anu Malik- Nadeem Shravan times," he adds. Javed Akhtar, who's fiercely territorial about sharing credits, rewrote Iktara, which Amitabh originally wrote for Wake Up Sid. But we hear a major label will be releasing Amitabh's version on a compilation soon.
Lyricist Sameer, who was the 90s rage, was last credited for the uninspiring title track of De Dana Dan and appears to have taken a created a gap that the likes of Mayur Puri (Billu, Singh is Kinng, Kidnap) are only too happy to fill.
The forthcoming soundtrack of Rocket Singhu00a0 Salesman of The Year, Three Idiots, Kurbaan, Love Aaj Kal, New York and surprisingly, a Karan Johar film soundtrack My Name is Khan don't have the names of either master Gulzar or Javed Akhtar on them. And yet, their music seem to have hit the spot with the younger lot.
Fresh ink
Many of the young lyricists credit screenplay writer and lyricist Jaideep Sahni for bringing in significant changes in the art of writing songs for Hindi films of today. Jaideep writes the lyrics for most films produced by Yash Raj Films. "Most lyricists are writing ringtones. It's a three and a half minute song where the tempo's faster and the second verse doesn't exist. There's no time to be linear, leave alone non-linear. We have enough time to open a thought and shut it."
Jaideep also believes that few young, mainstream filmmakers understand or even know the lyrics of a song. "In fact, the choreographers know the lyrics better," he says, sneering at the apathetic stance that younger filmmakers often take when it comes to lyrics. Luckily for him, Jaideep has the advantage of scripting the films that he writes songs for, so in that sense, it's been an easy road to pave.
Niranjan Iyengar is another blazing new lyricist who has made inroads into the industry in an entirely different unit before he took on song writing. Niranjan has written the lyrics for two Dharma Productions' filmsu00a0 Kurbaan, directed by Rensil D'Silva and My Name is Khan, one of the most awaited films of the year, directed by old associate Karan Johar. He found his footing as a dialogue writer for two of Karan's biggest projects, including Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.
Singing came before writing for the young lyricist. Niranjan reveals that he's been taking vocal lessons for five years now. In fact, Rasiya, a stirring composition from Kurbaan is composed in Shuddha Dhanyasi, the first raag that he learnt. "I was so excited, I composed the mukhda in 20 minutes," says Niranjan. It also helped that Niranjan brainstormed with Karan, who has a reputation for being involved in his films' music at every stage, during the making of KHNH and KANK.
The soundtracks of both Kurbaan and My Name is Khan have allowed him to delve into Sufi music, says Niranjan. Sufi took meaning for Niranjan six years ago. One minute he was listening to Jaffar Khan Badauni's version of Chaap Tilak on film maker Amit Saxena's tape deck and the next, he was rushing to get his hands on more Sufi music. "I still remember I picked up Abida Parveen's Jahan-E-Khusrau and burst out crying when I heard Mose bolo na bol meri sun," says Niranjan, who's still taking in all the praise he's been receiving for turning lyricist with Kurbaan.
Composer Vishal Dadlani, who has been writing his own lyrics when he composes with Shekhar Ravjiani, roots for two lyricists off the new packu00a0 Anvita Dutt Guptan (Bachna Ae Haseeno, Tashan and Aladin, most recently) and Kumaar (Dostana).
Kumaar moved to Mumbai with a Bachelors in Arts and an appetite for writing. "I didn't know how I'd do it but I had this passion to write," says Kumaar, ten years on. The lyricist agrees with Jaideep's views on Hindi film songs. "They are more rhythmically driven and the challenge today is to write for extremely long mukhdas. It's a must that you have hook words such as 'desi girl' or 'maa da laadla,' explains Kumaar, who's also a favourite with Pritam and has worked with the composer on two new soundtracks Tum Mile and All The Best.
Catch 'em young
No creative process has space for intimidation, which is probably why the younger lot of composers too find more breathing space when they collaborate with a lyricist from their generation. Of course, every lyricist worth his word uses superlatives when referring to Gulzar and invariably most of them call him "The God".
Working with Javed Akhtar on the other hand comes with its own code of ethics and we're told he's guilty of star tantrums when approached for changes, although Shankar-Ehsaan and Loy have always vouched that they've had a great time working with the lyricist.
It's a relief when a creative professional comes into the project with an open mind. It's a boon when they nail the ideas right from start like Niranjan does. He comes from the school of thought that "everyone else is a tool in the hands of the director and composer". He adds, "I may be superior linguistically but musically, it's definitely the composer who has an upper hand and the vision, of course, is the director's."
Jaideep looks at the evolution a little more realistically. "Younger lyricists are easier to deal with because they are hungrier there's an advantage and a disadvantage to that though," says Jaideep, "The advantage is that the younger writers are closer to the audience who's watching the film and the disadvantage is that they're easier to browbeat because they often let go of their sensibility to fit in."
More often, the more experienced set would rather walk out of the project than allow a film to dictate their work, a case in point being the use of the word khitpit in the song Love mera hit hit soniye from Billu, that released early this year. When Gulzar walked out, barely 20-song-old dialogue writer-turned-lyricist Mayur Puri was roped in to finish the song. "The song was spoofing an item song," argues Mayur, "Sometimes film writing may not be poetry, but I'm proud to be able to be true to the situation. I'm not publishing a book here."
The new live-and-let-live set also has ample room for healthy competition and finds it easy to applaud each others' work. Niranjan believes that audiences no longer relish Urdu romanticism as much as the sound of earthy Hindustani brought to light by his contemporaries, such as Amitabh. Amitabh, on the other hand, finds it easy to look up to the likes of Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Mishra, past masters of the rustic tongue, much before he emerged on the scene.
Jaideep predicts that fewer films will include lip-sync songs with the regular song and dance routine. "The craft of mainstream Hindi film lyrics writing is dying. We are perhaps the last lot." Although, this isn't a death knell for film music. It's just ringing in a new wave. Sit back in your seats then for some great background tracks.
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