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Inking another era
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If you appreciated the songs of Parineeta, you would be curious about the lyricist Swanand Kirkire, who’s dipped his feather in ink from the 1950s and 60s to pen songs for the period film Khoya Khoya Chand
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LYRICAL DREAMS Swanand Kirkire: ‘You don’t always have to let your audience be comfortable’
A commerce grad, who headed to the National School of Drama, and wrote TV serials isn’t exactly the kind of guy you see writing lyrics like “Piyu boley piya boley, kya ye boley jaanu naa” that we have hummed to.
Lyricist Swanand Kirkire and Bollywood are as different as chalk and cheese. Very much like his lyrics. The man who made us lend an ear to the songs of “Parineeta”, “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”, “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag” and now “Khoya Khoya Chand”, is really a juggler of sorts, dabbling in a whole lot of things.
He sings, writes lyrics (“Parineeta”, “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi”, “Khoya Khoya Chand”), and dialogues (“Ekalavya”, “Chameli” and the Hindi version of “Sivaji”), has been an associate director in many of these projects and acted in two of them as well.
“In theatre we had to do everything…” is how he explains it. On the sets of “Hazaaron Khwaishein…” he was humming a song he’d written earlier, when director Sudhir Mishra heard it and decided he would write and sing this song for his film.
He teams up yet again with Sudhir Mishra in “Khoya Khoya Chand”, a film that pays tribute to Hindi cinema of the 1950s and 1960s as well as its music. But isn’t it difficult to put a timeline on music given the timelessness of music? “There are genres. Only time proves what is good, bad or timeless…say after 50 years you can decide what’s timeless or not,” says Swanand. He says Guru Dutt’s films like “Pyaasa” and “Kaagaz Ke Phool” stay with him even today, when it comes to inspiration.
What happens in society reflects in art, says Swanand. “The 50s and 60s was a time when progressive Urdu poets were finding their space in Hindi cinema (as lyricists). There was a left-leaning attitude, and visions of a Nehruvian three-world order; they were trying to see a fair society.” In the title track, Swanand pays tribute to the Urdu poet Majaaz (known as the Keats of Urdu poetry; although he didn’t write film lyrics) by weaving in the poet’s lines and name.
Swanand’s house was brimming with classical music; his parents were both disciples of Kumar Gandharv. “Classical music was there at home constantly. But initially I decided I didn’t want to do music…you know how it is…you don’t want to do what your parents did. But the sanskaar that I imbibed then is playing a huge role in my life now.”
Swanand’s lyrics have largely been seen as harking back on an era when lyrics were soulful, overflowing with the poetry of life. Isn’t it difficult to catch audience attention with a tongue so different? “I’ve been writing for more than 10 years, but it’s only now that people are noticing it. It means they want something else now. I still use the spoken language and images from everyday life. As a modern-day lyricist I can’t constantly keep referring to the image of a river or a butterfly.”
While he agrees that a writer would rather write for himself, the business of writing has its own demands. “You may cook well, but when you are a chef cooking for people, you cater to their tastes. I must cater for what is asked. But I won’t show them the mere five dishes asked. I must suggest seven new others.” He quotes noted lyricist Gulzar who says a lyricist also has to educate the audience. “You don’t always have to let your audience be comfortable. Not everything has to be understood…you must give them something to think about and return to.”
Don’t the lyrics and the lyricist get overshadowed by the music and music director? “I don’t think so. I became a lyricist because I listened to film lyrics keenly! People identify a Hindi film song by its lines. When a tune is copied, it’s the original words that are remembered. Songs are a marriage of lyrics and music — they go hand in hand.”
Swanand arrived in Mumbai, like millions of others, with stars in his eyes, to be a film-maker. Today he has dabbled in so many things.On many films, he’s worked as dialogue writer and lyricist at once and even pitched in with his voice. “I keep telling myself that I must stop. It is chaos managing so many things at once. But I’m enjoying it. My main intention is to make a film.”
But as we talk over the telephone, Swanand is back on a road he’s been on before and is familiar with. He is heading for a rehearsal of the Hindi musical “Aao Saathi Sapna Dekhe” he’s directing, and which opens this year’s Prithvi Theatre Festival.
Like most people who get their feet wet in theatre, Swanand Kirkire swears by it, and says theatre gave him his all: “When I went to NSD, I knew I would do cinema. But whatever I am today is all my theatre training.”
BHUMIKA K.
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