In 2012, a retrospective of Shailendra’s films was held at the Habitat Film Festival in New Delhi. His swansong ‘Teesri Kasam’ was being screened and his son Dinesh Shailendra was in the audience. But on the billboard outside, the poster showed wrong names for producer and lyricist. Outraged, I rushed to the curator. She apologised, the poster was taken off, but the damage was done.
Dinesh explained later that a US-based company had violated copyright, and one of the family members was involved, but action had been taken and the anomaly corrected. The posters, however, kept floating in the digital space and the curator had inadvertently downloaded them. So, ‘Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo Khuda Ke Paas Jaana Hai’ became the property of some unknown Mehta that evening.
I remembered this incident when I saw the video of some eminent lyricists pleading via song for credits to be accorded to them in online music portals. Clearly, not much has changed since Sahir Ludhianvi took on the babudom of All India Radio on the same issue and won. Those who have grown up listening to Vividh Bharati will remember how programme anchor said ‘aur bol hain...’ (and lyrics by….) It gave songwriters their rightful place. The practice kept alive the names of the likes of Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Yogesh, Neeraj, Naqsh Lyallpuri, who were not as prolific as the well-known names but no less in terms of quality.
Today, Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Manzil,’ starring Amitabh Bachchan is better known for Yogesh’s song ‘Rimjim Gire Saawan’. And Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Rog’ survives in public memory only because of Neelesh Mishra’s ‘Maine Dil Se Kaha Dhoond Lana Khushi’.
When private FM channels took over the airwaves, the RJs talked of everything under the sun except about the song they were about to play. Similarly, when posters and inlay cards of cassettes gave way to digital archiving, lyricists lost out to composers and singers. It became worse with online portals, whose claim is that their algorithm is drawn from the American system where the singer and lyricist is usually one person. But those who are running these portals should take into account the Indian reality, where a lyricist is a very important factor in the song.
Singer-lyricist Swanand Kirkire cites the example of Spotify. “When I search for myself, I find all the data regarding my work as a singer but not of myself as a lyricist. They say it is because of the American algorithm, but it is like driving an American left-hand drive car on Indian roads. It will lead to an accident.”
Swanand Kirkire
It is not just about the moral right of who gets credit, says Swanand, but it could affect royalty payments as well each time. Performing right societies cannot check the metadata, which is with the music company, each time.
Agrees lyricist Mayur Puri, who is on the board of the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS).
“Sometimes, half information is given and at others wrong information is given. You can go to the court, but it is a complicated process. The Copyright Societies and Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 is very strong, but its execution remains weak.”
No royalty paid
As lyricists have the least visibility, says Puri, telecom companies and music labels feel free to take liberties. “The telecom companies have no right to sell caller ringtones of film songs for free as the rights don’t belong to them. Similarly, any contract that talks of advance royalty or surrendering of royalty in favour of the music company is illegal even if a new composer or a lyricist signs it.”
Looking at the bigger picture, it seems that these big companies see artistes as brands who might ask for their share of the pie if they are allowed to grow and get a place in people’s minds.
Lyricist Raj Shekhar.
Lyricist Raj Shekhar, known for being true to the characters while writing songs, says that dropping his name means that he gets no critique or analysis of his work, good or bad.
“It puts a spanner in understanding a lyricist’s chronology of thought. In Yahan (2005), Gulzar wrote ‘Aao Aao Na, Jhelum Mein Behne De, Waadi Ke Mausam Bhi Ek Din To Badlenge’, exuding hope that things will change in the Valley. But in 2014, in Haider, he came up with ‘Suraj Dooba Kin Aankhon Mein, Dooba Suraj Kin Aankhon Mein, Jhelum Hua Khara, Jhelum Jhelum Dhoonde Kinara’, showing that the scenario had not changed the way the poet had expected it would.”
The song also underscores Gulzar’s fascination with his hometown in present-day Pakistan.
Lyricist Gulzar
There is one school of thought that argues that lyricists simply put words to tunes, and hence deserve little credit. There was a time in the 1990s when some lyricists wrote gibberish to fit the tunes of Rahman and Illiyaraja.
Remember ‘Telephone Dhun Pe Hansne Wali’? But perhaps it has as much to do with listener sensibilities. The Hindi film industry has been a melting pot of artistes from different states. In the 1950s and the 1960s, a number of composers emerged from Bengal and some of the most meaningful songs emerged when S.D. Burman joined hands with Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra. Gulzar stepped in to write his first song ‘Mora Gora Ang Lai Le’ (Bandini) to a tune composed by Burman after the legendary composer had a tiff with Shailendra.
But Gulzar, for all his poetic prowess, gets an Oscar for ‘Jai Ho’? Was the non-Hindi speaking jury perhaps swayed by the tune rather than the lyrics?
It is not just the digital world that is erasing the presence of lyricists, but traditional media too that refuses to take note of their contribution. Shekhar points out that few film critics today understand or appreciate the lyricist in their reviews. Of course, there are some music reviews, but can we separate a film’s music from its narrative? Like the dialogue writer, isn’t a lyricist expected to write according to the emotional language of the characters?
There was a phase where the Hindi film song was reduced to an item number that could fit anytime, anyplace. But now, the likes of Irshad Kamil, Swanand Kirkire, Raj Shekhar and Varun Grover are fighting again to give the song’s lyrics its rightful space. May their tribe increase.
Lyricist Irshad Kamil
