The Deepika Padukone-Siddhant Chaturvedi-Ananya Panday starrer Gehraiyaan is set for February 11 release and the video of the title track ‘T u marz hai dawa bhi; Par aadat hai humein.. .’ gives a glimpse into the core subject of forbidden relationships.
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For lyricist Ankur Tewari, the song was inspired “totally by what the script asked for”. “It is a beautiful screenplay by Shakun Batra and Ayesha DeVitre. The script explores modern-day relationships in an urban setting, and it was quite inspiring to be a part of it as a lyricist,” he says.
Ankur was supervising the music for Gehraiyaan and while making the teaser for the film, he decided to use the song ‘Frontline’ by OAFF, which was in English and rendered by singer Lothika Jha. Ankur penned the Hindi lyrics and made Lothika sing the Hindi version as well. “The film is about giving in to temptation, knowing that it is not going to work. That is pretty much how these words fell into place. ‘You are my medicine, and you are my ailment and yet I give in to it.”’
A campus as a catalyst
Ankur has been part of the music industry for well over two decades and his band Ankur & The Ghalat Family that he formed in 2009 brought out some fun-filled independent music. However, Bollywood sat up and noticed Ankur only after he supervised the 18-track music in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy in 2019. “Life is, I feel, a series of successes and failures and people end up noticing the successes. But failure is what makes you... Gully Boy was a good moment of success, which is important from time to time. And sometimes when you get successful, people dig into the past and check out your earlier work. So, it is exciting.”
Ankur’s childhood, spent in Roorkee near Dehradun. was a catalyst to his artistic pursuits. “I grew up on campus, my father was a professor in the university which is now an IIT. My mother used to direct plays. So, the house was kind of an open house. There was a lot of music and art and culture around me. I was privileged to be surrounded by a lot of artists, actors, poets, writers. It was quite fortunate for me to have had such a beautiful childhood,” he says, adding “My family always supported my decisions in terms of whatever I was doing.”
Lessons from life
Stating that he never went to a film or music school, Ankur says, “I am driven by curiosity, stories, people and incidents.” He likens his life to being in a “a university where each of the projects is like a new semester. They end up teaching you about various styles on how different people approach stories and life. It is quite inspiring.”
Soon after Gully Boy came the pandemic and while admitting that it was hard, Ankur says it was a time to introspect and recalibrate. “A lot of writing, thinking, and reading happened. It was not an easy time for any artist...” says Ankur. “But, the artists helped each other. Those who are doing well for themselves helped the ones who were still trying to find a foothold.”
