Young lyricists take Bollywood by storm

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A new breed of young lyricists has taken Bollywood by storm. Unlike the kurta-clad ’shayars’ of the past who branched out as lyricists, they are jetsetting smart professionals who write lyrics for the love of it.

Bollywood director-turned-producer Mahesh Bhatt, whose films are musical trailblazers, is all praise for the new lyricists. “Sayeed Quadri and Neelesh Misra are the names to watch out for. They have a lot of potential.

“Quadri who wrote ‘Ya Ali’ (’Gangster’) and Misra who wrote ‘Jadoo Hai Nasha Hai’ (’Jism’) are in the mould of old Bollywood lyricists Raja Mehndi Ali and Shailendra.

“I am going to take them on for my future ventures as well. They will go a long way,” he told PTI.

Top Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar finds ad man Prasoon Joshi, who penned the lyrics for “Rang De Basanti” and “Fanaa” among the best of the new lot.

“Prasoon is very talented. He has an edge over the others because he is a poet. I have heard his poetry and let me tell you he is good,” he said.

Akhtar’s other “favourites” are Swanand Kirkire (”Lage Raho Munnabhai”, “Parineeta”, “Eklavya”), Saleem Bijnori (”Deewangee”), Ajay Jhingran (”Kaho Na Pyar Hai”). He also finds some of Nusrat Badr’s lyrics (”Devdas”) up to the mark.

But Akhtar rued, “In the 1950s and 1960s lyricists were shayars. We had poets like Kaifi Azmi, Salim, Shailendra, Raja Mehndi Ali, Janesaar Akhtar and Shakeel. They were also very well-read.

“But it is difficult to find these characteristics in most of the young poets. I think most of them are in a hurry to make a mark and are taking short-cuts.”

“It is important for a poet to have a huge vocabulary. He should have control over meters and rhymes. He should be able to express his feelings within those meters and rhymes and write lyrics on set tunes, as is the norm in Bollywood,” said Akhtar. “A famous Arabic poet once said: ‘Let no man write poetry who doesn’t know 200,000 couplets.’ If not 200,000, I think our lyricists should at least know 2,000 couplets! They should expose themselves to a whole range of poetry to be able to some times write a bhajan, a lullaby, a qawwali or a cabaret number…” Misra, who juggles a career in journalism with his other passions — authoring books (he has written three so far) and writing lyrics (he wrote his first lyrics in college), attributed his success to his “small town sensibilities”.

“Romance is dead in big cities. Nobody falls in love at first sight in a big town. This happens only in the small towns. I can relate to these small joys and write about them.” Misra, who sees Gulzar and Javed Akhtar as role models, wants to tread the “middle path”. “I see Gulzar as a selfish writer. Selfish in a good way. For example, when he writes ‘Kajra re’ he is having fun, yet he is very creative. Many may not be able to relate to his surreal writing.

“But I try and tread the middle path. Like Javed, I want to be grounded in reality and like Gulzar, I want to take the occasional flight of fancy. I want to occupy a space in Bollywood by borrowing from both schools of thought.”

The going is not always easy. “We have to work with briefs — we are given themes, set lyrics to tunes and meet deadlines. These work like blinkers,” said Misra, who misses out on a lot of projects because he is not Mumbai-based.

Joshi, an ad man who is best known for his punchline “Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola”, said, “I love advertising. But I also love writing. I breathe and live poetry. If I hadn’t written for films I would have done it for myself. I get his urge from within to write.” Joshi admires Akhtar for his versatility. “Javedsaab is not just a versatile lyricist, he is a very versatile person. He is a dialogue writer of international standard and also an activist. It is difficult to be like him.” Joshi wants to create a space of his own and “not be like anyone”. “I like being myself. I have done a range of films from ‘Rang De Basanti’ to a romantic ‘Fanaa’ to chick flick ‘Hum Tum’ to ‘Phir Milenge’ — a film about AIDS — and now I am working on ‘Taare Zamin Par’, an Aamir Khan film for kids.” So what is he best at — admaking or lyrics? “I don’t know. That is for others to judge,” said Joshi, who reads poetry by Kaifi Azmi, Mirza Ghalib and Dushyant Kumar, and wants to direct a film some day.

As for Misra, he hopes to turn a playback singer. So how good is he at that? “Better than many other playback singers,” he quipped.

So is it tough working with Mahesh Bhatt? “Yeah. When I wrote ‘Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai’ (’Woh Lamhe’), Mahesh didn’t like the second stanza. He asked me to rewrite it. Later, when I saw the song on TV I sent him an a SMS thanking him for rejecting the stanza,” said Misra, who apart from the Bhatts, has worked with Tanuja Chandra, Sanjay Gupta and Ekta Kapoor. Do lyricists get “inspired” by western songs? “No. Our sensibilities are different. But the day I run out on ideas may be I’ll seek inspiration,” he chuckled.

But before that Misra dreads the day when he will be asked to write a song to a bad tune. “I haven’t had to that yet. But I dread that day,” said Misra, who usually pens a song in about 20-30 minutes.

So which is the Bollywood song he hates the most? “What is your mobile number?” pat came the reply.

— PTI

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