[Reader-list] Bollywood Music , Prashant Pandey

[Prashant Pandey]

Har Sapna Ek Saap hai Mann se lipta jai (Bhairavi, 1996)

(Every dream is a serpent clinging to the heart)



Talking to Amit Khanna is a revelation. I had put in lot focus for his interview but it turned out to be quite a struggle for me. The main problem is that when you are talking to him you are talking to five or perhaps more different personas. He is a highly acclaimed successful Hindi film lyricist, screenplay dialogue writer, director, producer, man behind Plus Channel and currently the President Of Film & Tv Producers Guild and Chairman of the Reliance Entertainment.

 He is unlike any other lyricist i have met so far.

 Infact when I wrote my research proposal I had never thought that I will meet Mr. Khanna in the posh boardroom of Reliance Infocomm situated in DhiruBhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC), India’s commercial Xanadu. 


 He comes across as a highly organized person with the appointment starting exactly at the scheduled time.  As I sip my Java Green Cold coffee in the executive suite I   wonder if he is the same man who wrote “Chalte-Chalte Mere Ye Geet Yaad Rakhna”(Chalte-Chalte,1976) and “Ka Karoo Sajni Aaye Na Baalam”(Swami 1977). Then there is another problem. His modesty about his body of work borders on self-denial. Speaking to him I feel as if I know more about his songs  than he does but that’s what he is like. He would baffle any corporate historian, music critic or a journalist worth his/her salt. How do you write about a man who “likes to move on”? Anyways this is my version...


You have been a lyricist, filmmaker, screenplay writer and so on
 tell me about your journey as a lyricist


Well I never intended to be a lyrics writer
 I do not come from a Hindi-Urdu background .I started my career with Navketan Films when Devanand sahib called me to assist him.  I became lyrics writer by chance. One of my friends was starting a film and was on the look out for a music director. Bappi Lahiri a young talented composer was doing the rounds of the studios. I found him to be very talented. So I introduced him to my friend. It was not a very high budget film and my friend knew that I had literary inclinations.. So he asked me to try writing songs.


And you wrote the super hit song Chalte-Chalte, how old were you then?

I was twenty one.

You know its tough to imagine a twenty one year old boy writing commercial hindi film songs way back in early 70s. What was it like?

(smiles) it was not very tough. However people were surprised to see me especially Lataji and Kishore da. They knew me before due to my association with Dev saab but nobody had never seen me writing.

You did that when legends like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakeel Badayuni,Sahir were around . Did you ever feel stymied?

No not really. As I said writing was my hobby. Had it been my sole career I would have been under pressure. I have written songs for some 40 films and I have worked primarily with Bappi and Rajesh Roshan. They were young so I could connect with them.

Trationally a lyricist is someone who has left leanings, who is member of the IPTA or Progressive writers associations.

Those times are over now. But I had my brush with IPTA and all that in college. Progressive writers union was the cradle for writers once but not any more.

But what about the times when you were writing?

Well I too had my flirtations with different thought systems.  Earlier lyrics writing was confined to traditional Shayars, with some people who introduced some flexibility and feshness from time to time. I find Gulzars’ body of work very interesting. I think both Javed and Gulzar are very good at sensitivity and craft but now you would find lyricists who are not Shayars and come from commercial backgrounds like advertising.

You mean writers like Prasoon Joshi?

Yes exactly. I am very impressed with his work.

Your body of work is really interesting. The songs are very well “crafted”
.

I had a conversation with Javed on the same the other day, though I have not been as prolific as others.  There are some 200 songs that I have written.

200 or 400?

Ya 400 if you include all my private albums and TV serials. My most prolific phase was in the years 79 to 81 when I wrote songs for some 25 films. Also I find my private album career   very interesting. It was before the re-mixes and pop phenomena.

What I find interesting in your work that there is a progressive engagement with song construction and yet you maintain strong interpretations of the folk and traditional.

(Smiles)

Why I am saying this because I am very passionate about music. I listen a lot and I write as well. Some of my favorite songs have been penned by you. Say if you take this song PYAR ME KABHI KABHI
 it has a line ----- Pyar ki kitaab se judai ka naam hee saaf kar deeya hamne .

Exactly.. I have tried to be colloquial. I tried to mix literature with little bit of craft.
Same applies to folkish songs as well.

Ka karo Sajni (Swami) is an experiment with thumri


And much more
 say for instance in Manpasand(1980) I used Jaidev’s (Geet Govind) Charu Chand ki Chanchal kirane
 My craft is a mix of everything
.then I have written pure Ghazals like  Aap Kahe aur Hum na aaye
(Des Pardes,1979)

Could we talk a bit more about your song Chalte-Chalte ? How long did you take to write it ?

Half an hour.

You wrote it on tune?

Ya it had been composed earlier and I gave it some sort of a shape

This song attracts attention to your craft
. It says,”Mere Ye Geet  Yaad Rakhna”(Remmember MY Songs) Later it says “Hum  Laut aayenge”(WE will come back) . I guess you make grammatical compromises to sustain musicality and meter..

I am glad that you noticed it
We do have to make adjustments but here there is none..earlier the singer-lover was alone and spoke as a single entity, he sings “Hum  Laut aayenge” after communion with his beloved.

There is an epilogue to this song which Babul Supriyo sang in a concert “Alvida toh ant hai/ aur ant kisne dekha
(Goodbye is an ending which nobody has seen).

Yes from time to time I tried infusing Sufi philosophies into my popular works. Then if you want to analyse meter and stuff
take this song from Bato Bato mein(1979) “Uthe sabke kadam” this is a Goan Portoguese kind of a melody but the meter keeps changing all the time. I tied to sustain it by imparting alliteration. Then there is a film that I directed also
 Sheeshe ka ghar( The Glasshouse,1984). It had all Ghazals and thumri. Anup Ghoshal, the Bengali singer sang in that film.



What are your literary influences?

See I did English literature in college
 so there is John Donne , Shelley, Keats
 then I read Nirala, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Maithili Sharan Gupt
Ghalib,Josh,Jigar,Firaq,Meer I read everybody.

And your favorite film lyricists?

Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, Majrooh, Sahir, Shailendra and Pradeep. A lot of film songs that these have written are sheer poetry. Especially Shailendra who always lamented that he had not got his due as a poet but listen to his songs...it stands out as pure literature. 

Did you ever try things like translation?

Oh yes
 I have translated a lot of songs for Javed, Kaifi saab
then I did a cover version of Abba in early eighties


You translated their songs into Hindi?

Yes
that was a very interesting phase of my career
 I wrote the first songs for Alka (Alka Yagnik) for the film Hamari Bahu Alka(1982) and for Udit( Udit Narayan) for Unnis-Bees(1980)

It’s a mystery that having written such hit songs you stopped writing


Not really
 I do work sometimes but I like to move on
there are so many interesting things that I did

Like you shot India’s first music video


Yes that was for Nazia Hasan


Your profile would baffle any journalist
.  You wrote songs, directed and produced films, had your own company and now you are heading Reliance Entertainment
 what about writing?

One has to be eclectic in life




You have a very leisurely approach to writing. You sound like someone who will work on its terms


Yes always


It’s unlike the lyricists who I meet for my research
 even the established ones
struggling for work moving from one studio to the other
convincing everybody that they are good.

I do not agree that one has to go through all that. Log pahaltoo me dhakke kha rahe hain sau-sau rupaye me gana likh rahe hai.( people are unnecessarily struggling and writing songs for a hundred rupee.) Struggle doesn’t necessitate good poetry.

When would you write next


Its not that I have stopped writing altogether
 there is no writers block. After films I did lot of Tv
 my song for Buniyaad became almost a benchmark for Tv songs for years to come.

You wrote the title song of the hugely popular comedy show “Dekh Bhai Dekh” ?

Yes

Iss rang badalti Duniya me Kya Tera Hai Kya Mera hai

Yes

Did you write Swabhiman(TV serial,1995) also?

Yes
 the title song. 

It has a very strange line
 Ek Haath Sone Ki Chadi (One hand is a Golden rod)

I like to do experimentation all the time.  Then there is a film I did with Bhupen Hazarika. I remember a song I wrote for him “Anshumaali ban ja tu /Ho Ujiyaara. Anshumaali means the sun.  There is a film I did with Illyaraja
 most of the songs are hugely experimental in this film


Which film is that?

I don’t remember exactly.

You must be getting lot of offers even today?

Not really. People know that I am busy in new things now.  There are new responsibilities that I have to carry. (He is the President of the Film and TV producers’ guild) But I can write whenever I want.

Well that was about you as a lyricist
  you write a lot in newspapers and websites about digital revolution
 what do you think about digital methods of making a song ?

I think it’s great


You know, a lot of old-timers say that a rounded orchestration is missing and digital doesn’t sound that great.


I don’t agree. See there is something which is called nostalgia. When I joined the industry everybody used to say that music of 60s was great. This is human tendency. It doesn’t mean that the contemporary artist or painter is not good as compared to the one who made the cave paintings. Art can exist in different times and spaces simultaneously. I have been part of many recordings where orchestra was so big that musicians played from different rooms. But it doesn’t mean that today’s music is bad. There is some amazing orchestration happening today also. At the end of the day what one counts on, is talent. Regarding digital revolution I will say that you better understand and master it rather than complain about it. We have very talented musicians and performers and they will take care of the quality. People might be saying all sorts of things right now but I am sure with a better understanding of the digital medium our musicians will continue to make good and even better music.


You coined the term “Bollywood”. Can you define for me what is Bollywood
music?

It is popular Hindi film music. In India there used to be “Sugam Sangeet” by Vividh Bharati. It could become what pop music is to America. But we had a great tradition of film songs so it never took off.


You have been a trendsetter in many ways can you make any forecasting as to how film music would be in coming years 
?


I think there is more transparency more professionalism and training and talent
 so I think we will have the golden ages coming back in five years from now.


What about your own personal politics as a creative artist?

As I said earlier I had left leanings but I have outgrown them. I think somebody has said 
I think Balzac
 that if you are not a Marxist before you are twenty five you don’t have a heart and if you are Marxist after you are twenty five you don’t have a head. This is rather simplistically put but the global polity has changed so ideology has to change. It is part of the human growth.


What do you think of artists espousing leftist ideologies and becoming a poster boy of the left
?

See everybody is a friend but I would say that no body has an ideology today 
 these people are post-modern liberals.


Its been my pleasure talking to you. 

(Smiles.)











































































(End of the interview)


Prashant Pandey for SARAI, New Delhi 
Prashantpandey10 at rediffmail.com





















-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20050526/abf418c2/attachment.html