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Realising the self through poetry
Shubha Mudgal, Nivedita Joshi and Vidya Balan at the launch of music album `Kisson Ki Chadar' in New Delhi over the week-end.
EHSAAS HAI jo andar tak chhoo gaya hai'' -- the phrase uttered by poetess Nivedita Joshi on Saturday during the release of her first album, "Kisson ki Chadar'', aptly describes the verses she has penned.
Intensely touching, the album is a compilation of what Nivedita describes as "every experience that completes life''. A journey that she began over a decade ago, while recovering from a severe spinal injury -- she was confined to the wheelchair for quite some time -- Nivedita says that she never set out to write poetry. "Words just came to me. There was a time when I was even about to lose my voice. But poetry gave me a way to express myself and thus acted as a source of life,'' she says.
A student of microbiology, the path chosen by Nivedita may seem slightly contrary to some. But for the Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi's daughter, science and creativity go hand in hand. "Newton was a great poet. He is my inspiration. What does a scientist do? He tries to search the truth and so does a creative person. It is a journey of finding yourself, so it's the same,'' she says. Like father, like daughter.
Given life by singer Shubha Mudgal, and set to tune by music composer Shantanu Moitra, the album has a total of seven songs. Interestingly, written as poems, without the usual concern for "meters'' and "antaras'', the album posed a unique challenge for both singer and composer. "It is a different matter to work with poetry. There are open phrases and we have to work with that. I owe a lot to music composer Gulzar who helped me with this,'' says Shantanu, adding that the challenge of putting "dhun'' to poetry drew him to the project.
``Very few people have done this in the past. Earlier it was Gulzar and R.D. Burman who did it but in recent times not many people have attempted it,'' said the young poetess praising Gulzar -- whom she addressed as "Baba'' -- who was also sitting in the audience.
For singer Shubha Mudgal, the album has given her the perfect opportunity to break away from the mould of singing only spirited songs. "After `Ab Ke Sawan', the only songs I have been offered are `joshila' numbers. This gives me the opportunity to give expression to sadness that all of us experience,'' she says.
For the moment, only two songs - "Kisson Ki Chadar'' and "Ajeeb Se Yeh Shaam Hai'' -- have been picturised by Pradeep Sarkar, who has to his credit other songs such as "Dhoom Pichuk'' and "Ab Se Sawan''.
By Anjali Malhotra
Photo: R.V. Moorthy
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
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