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Journalism of Courage
Composing is something instinctive in my genetic code! says Prasoon Joshi,when you ask him how did he make his debut as a composer in Prakash Jhas Aarakshan? One can almost sense a smile on his face. We are conversing on the telephone minutes before he boards a flight. The conversation is completed after he is seated in the aircraft.
Joshi goes on,Whenever I am writing songs,I usually compose some tune for them in my mind. I naturally dont share it with my composers or directors,because I dont want to thrust it on them. But this time,I instinctively felt that I should do so. And when they heard my tune for Kaun si dor,Jha as well as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy said,This is it! It is their magnanimity that they allowed me to turn composer!
Joshi also thought of only one name to render his compositionPandit Chhanulal Mishra from Benares. He is a genius and I love his voice,and he actually agreed to sing my composition. I have been very lucky. My first song as a lyricist,Kaun dagar kaun shehar was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Ilayaraja for Lajja. And now my first as a composer is sung by another legend.
Aarakshan is the realisation of Jhas and Joshis long-felt desire to work together. I found Prakash very excited and clear about his subject material. He had a grip on the issues involved,so I thought that I would learn a lot from the movie and from him, says Joshi. And I was right. We would discuss much more than the film,like social and national issues. I was enlightened on the subject of the reservation policy as well. As a lyricist,there was a challenge in writing songs that were catchy and entertaining and also needed depth. And so this difficult task was all the more exciting!
Joshi suggested Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for this film because of the perfect rapport they share. We have a great equation since we first worked on Phir Milenge. Most of the songs were written first,but it was a collaborative effort where we could tweak either tunes or words later.
The writer waves off the urban-rural divide in making music and says,Music that is universal comes from the heart. You have to balance a good composition with the right words. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are very good at their work,and they appreciate my lyrics. When you appreciate anyones work,you exhibit and set your own standard,like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi will never work with an inferior poet.
About his special rapport with the trio,he says,Unlike A.R.Rahman,with whom I share a different kind of rapport because he was my senior when I first worked with him,Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and I are contemporaries. We began almost together,our association in ad films goes a long,long way back and we have seen each other grow.
Joshi has always been very choosy,but why has he worked in films largely with Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy? Break Ke Baad with Vishal-Shekhar and a forthcoming film with Sajid-Wajid have been entirely because of his rapport with director Kunal Kohli.
I think that it is all about the directors vision, says the ad guru. I had a beautiful relationship with Jatin-Lalit in Hum Tum,Fanaa and Rok Sako To Rok Lo. I have worked with Aadesh Shrivastava a lot in ads and done Aankhen with him. Monty Sharma has also worked with me.
The lyricists forthcoming films include Chittagong and one more film with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The music in both movies is completely different, he says.
He,however,makes light of the fact that old-fashioned melody has returned to films. People want change all the time, he says. Melody had never gone away; the old will always co-exist with something new. Thats the first lesson you learn in the ad world. Its all about reinventing all the time. But anything that is not relevant to India will never survive.
He feels a bit more strongly about lyrics. If someone is writing DK Bose or Dum maaro dum,its their prerogative,but I will not do so. I have been brought up to respect society and people while entertaining them but if people accept such things,its a case of deserving what they get and getting what they deserve! Its a market,and you will get both the samagri for a yagna and liquor in the same place. But the same person can go in for both at different times!
