An Interview with Rajiv Vijayakar: Good Lyrics is "Writing in a Simple Language and Keeping in Sync with the Times"

Rajiv Vijayakar has been an online and print film journalist for more than twenty-five years. He has also worked for television and FM. He was on the National Film Awards jury twice (58th National Film Awards in 2011 and 62nd National Film Awards in 2015). Mr Vijayakar is a consultant for Hindi Film Music at the Indian Music Experience Museum in Bengaluru. His paper, 'The Role of a Song in a Hindi Film', is part of the syllabus for South Asian Cinema Studies, University of Edinburgh. He has authored three books: The History of Indian Film Music (Times Group Books, 2010), Dharmendra- Not Just a He-Man (Rupa Publications, 2018) and Main Shayar Toh Nahin (Harper Collins India, 2019). He is currently working on a book on Hindi cinema's most versatile composers, Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Main Shayar Toh Nahin is a well-researched, very informative and wonderfully written book.  Little is written about lyricists of Hindi Film songs and even less is known. Except for a very few top writers/poets, they remain the 'unsung' heroes of Bollywood music. This book fills this vacuum very well. The book is filled with interesting and inspiring anecdotes and, details and technicalities of songwriting. It also seeks to explore why words and melody have a fleeting presence. I had a conversation with Mr Vijayakar about his books and the role of lyrics in Hindi songs and films.

Aditya Singh: You are a film historian and a consultant at the Indian Music Experience Museum. How do you see the art of writing lyrics and what exactly is this Indian Music Experience Museum?

Rajiv Vijayakar: Writing good lyrics is all about first fitting the requirements of the story and script and matching a character’s intellectual, mental and emotional levels and then about showing off what you can do as a writer. It is about going with the director’s vision and that of the (film) writer(s) and within that doing something fresh if possible. It is also about writing in a simple language and keeping in sync with the times and not thrusting one’s own beliefs and experiences into the song. Also, doling out great philosophies whenever possible within the simplest words that are right for a situation (Gaadi bula rahi hai / Dost; Jab koi baat bigad jaaye/Jurm; Sajan re jhooth mat bolo / Teesri Kasam) is brilliant. 

For these reasons, I consider the following five names the greatest lyricists of all time: in alphabetical order Anand Bakshi, Indeevar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Rajendra Krishan and Shailendra. For me, Shakeel and Sahir rank next along with others like Kaifi Azmi, Pradeep and more.

The Indian Music Experience (www.indianmusicexperience.org) is a one-of-its-kind largely digital music museum—a first for India. It encompasses every music ever heard in all of India up to Fusion and cannot be described orally, but it truly has to be experienced. A normal excursion through it will take a viewer not less than 3 hours to see it all decently, and you can spend many more hours there, depending upon your specific field of interest, like Hindi film music, Carnatic classical, theatre music etc. Exhibits apart, there are mostly things you can watch or experience through a touch-screen. It is located in Bangalore and I have been with them through the initial conception in 2011 to its inauguration in 2019. I am the only consultant for Hindi Film Music. It has been structurally designed by an American firm that has done several music museums around the world from the USA to Hong Kong, like the Grammy and Michael Jackson museums.

Aditya Singh: You mention in your book about meetings with numerous lyricists- from Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anand Bakshi of yesteryear to Amitabh Bhattacharya and Manoj Muntashir of my age. Which of these meetings do you cherish the most or any particular moment that you wish to share with our readers?

Rajiv Vijayakar: With some, I had multiple meetings and with others, just one or two. I cherish my multiple meetings with Bakshi and Majrooh the most, along with my two meetings with Indeevar, my meetings with the simple, no-nonsense Hasrat Jaipuri and the frank Yogesh. Javed Akhtar made good copy always and among the newcomers, it is Irshad Kamil, with whom I am more like a friend. 

Anand Bakshi’s comments on how a person who takes 20 minutes for a bath does not necessarily bathe better than someone who is out in 5 minutes, his decisive declaration to an upstart director that he never wrote a super-hit song in his life (“I write songs. Various factors make them a super-hit!”), Majrooh’s frank opinions about some newer lyricists (which will remain off the record!!), Javed Akhtar’s long statement used in the book about cultures and languages, Gulzar’s remarks on the three Khans and how only one of them is an artiste (Salman Khan) while the other two are hardcore businessmen and Neeraj’s comment that Bakshi was the man with the best grip on a film song situation are some of the highlights I recall.

Front Cover of the Book

 

Aditya Singh: It is generally said that the standard of lyrics has lowered significantly. The songs that are being produced lack in depth in comparison to the songs of the 1950s to 1970s. Do you feel the same? And if yes, who is to be blamed- the lyricist or the director-producer duo or the audience?

Rajiv Vijayakar: In a demand-and-supply situation, it is obviously the filmmakers, financiers and music labels that will always remain the prime culprits. Naushad had a clause that only the composer, lyricist and director would be there for music sitting; a smaller composer like Chitragupta never had the producer listening to a new song until it was recorded and he came in only to pay everyone; Laxmikant recalled how a sitting for a big film turned nightmarish when the director came with several team members and family and no tune would satisfy all. Finally, its big-name lyricist manipulated things so that a favourite smaller music director replaced them in the film!

The fact that so many re-created songs make waves with the youngsters shows that everyone identifies with good lyrics. Having said that, I firmly believe that today’s writers like Amitabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil and Kumaar are significantly original and have the talent near to the greats (unlike the in-between 80s and 90s generations) but not the environment and the opportunities. Prasoon Joshi, Manoj Muntashir and Swanand Kirkire also can boast of this quality.

Rajiv Vijayakar

 

Aditya Singh:  You served as a jury member of the prestigious National Film Awards twice. What was the experience like? 

Rajiv Vijayakar: The experience was most congenial. Contrary to popular perception, there was total freedom and no pressures. They looked after us very well and we were put up in five-star hotels and were treated like luminaries. At work, we would see about 5-6 movies per day. We were also told to keep our positions as Jury Members a secret from all to prevent influences and from undue requests and pleas from industry members who might be known to us to “look after” their films.

Aditya Singh: Lastly, I want to ask you about Sahir Ludhianvi. There are two reasons: the first that he is my favourite and the second is that the year 2021 marks his hundredth birth anniversary. Can you share anything about Sahir, maybe as a tribute to him?  

Rajiv Vijayakar: I have mentioned everything about him in my book. I never met him since he passed away in 1980 long before I became a journalist. A lot of his work is truly awesome. ‘Tora man darpan kehlaaye’ (Kaajal), ‘Jab bhi jee chahe’ (‘Daag’), ‘Kya miliye aise logon se’ (Izzat), ‘Yeh parbaton ke daaere’ (Vaasna), ‘Sansar se bhaage phirte ho’ (Chitralekha), ‘Aage bhi jaane na tu’ (Waqt) and ‘Hum intezaar karenge’ (Bahu Begum) are probably my top-of-the-mind personal favourites among his songs.

Follow the interviewer on Twitter: @aditya_singh099