And how did your maiden film happen?
My first book 173 Hours In Captivity: The Hijacking of IC 814 -on the 1999 Christmas Eve hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet from Kathmandu to Kandahar - was released in 2000 in Mumbai. I reside in Delhi but when I came here for the book launch I met Mahesh Bhatt and we got talking about music and lyrics. I then made him hear a couple of my lyrics, including the one that I had sent Jagjitji and he asked me to write two songs for Jism.
The first song was Jadoo hai nasha hai and the second was Chalo tumko lekar chalen. Among my earlier films were Tanuja Chandra’s Film Star, which was finally released on television, and in which my song Khwabon ki yeh zameen was appreciated.
You have yet to write all songs in a film. Why is that?
I am writing songs alone for almost all my forthcoming films. But I am happy that the songs I wrote were popular as well as critically-appreciated, like Maine dil se kahaa (Rog), Lamha lamha doori (Gangster), Kya mujhe pyaar hai (Woh Lamhe...) and Bepanah pyaar hai (Krishna Cottage). I have just written two songs for Jannat. Dhoka from Johnny Gaddaar was also liked last year.
How do you juggle between your job, writing books and lyrics?
My journalistic background has made me habituated to work to deadlines. The focussed outlook pays. Like I said, I have written most of my lyrics when neither at home nor sitting with the composers. I e-mailed Jadoo hai nasha hai from New York, Kya mujhe pyaar hai was written while at Uttaranchal doing a news story and Maine dil se kahaa while at work in Kashmir.
Does the story you are doing or its locations and emotions influence you?
I don’t think so - for it is again my discipline as a journalist that comes in as a writer. I recall that I had bought an apartment for my parents in Lucknow and there was incredible noise and cacophony going on as the carpenters and other workmen were banging away. And in the midst of my overviewing their work, I wrote the dreamy romantic song Bolo na tum zaraa for Fight Club!
You have written the novel Once Upon A Timezone, which is a romantic comedy. Is that oriented towards a film being made on it?
Yes, it is. It was recently displayed at the Frankfurt Book Fair and talks are going on about its film rights.
Are you also writing scripts?
Yes, I had written a script for Anurag Basu which has yet to take off. I am writing Alibaug for Sanjay Gupta. I had rather been resisting scripts till now but now I am taking up such assignments. I have completed the first draft of the Hindi version of Mozhi being produced by Boney Kapoor. I am also writing a script about Naxalites because I have reported on insurgency at first-hand.
And which are your forthcoming films as a lyricist?
I have 13B being made by Adlabs with music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. You will not believe that I have never had a sitting with them despite working on Johnny Gaddaar, two songs in High School Musical 2 and on 13B as well as Anees Bazmee’s film produced by Boney Kapoor. I have no problems with metres because I compose songs as well. I am doing Zee’s Gulabi and Raaz 2 with music by Sandesh Shandilya. I have also written a song for Rakesh Roshanji’s Kites being directed by Anurag Basu and will be doing Shriram Raghavan’s new film with John Abraham and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
With so much work in Hindi films, when are you shifting base to Mumbai?
I do not plan to shift to Mumbai at all! It’s better to remain an outsider than become a conveyor-belt worker. Besides, my wife works for a television channel in Delhi and I do not want to disturb her when it’s not necessary.
Two queries. First, all your literary work has been in English. It’s rare that writers are good at both Hindi and English. How did you manage that?
Well, I actually started out as a journalist in Hindi, not English - I would write for Swatantra Bharat.
The second question is how do you write with so much depth at the age of 34 and in today’s age of vacuous cursory rhymes? Is it because your journalistic outlook colours your verse?
(Smiles) ‘Cursory’ rhymes is a good phrase. Yes, I do admit that the job of a journalist takes me to the real India and puts me in touch with emotions that are very real. It is a happy meeting where both the creative writer and the reporter in me are affecting each other, and not just one-way.
Do you write to a metre or frame the words first?
I find it refreshing that music directors like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Vishal-Shekhar are now finding it more satisfying to compose to words written first, which for me comes easy as I compose myself too. Right from my first film, M.M.Kreemsaab tuned my songs, and he is simply amazing! Though not very fluent in Hindi, he came and asked me just one question - would Chalo tumko lekar chalen make a difference instead of my original mukhda, which was Chalo lekar chalen tumko? And the composition he made was superb and very Northern!
What else are you planning?
I might try my hand at singing. I have begun a blog, which is very liberating as there is so much I want to say as a writer. My blog entry on Kashmiri Pandits has got a phenomenal global response.
