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 Anand
Bakshi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Indeevar are all gone, each after
writing for over 40 years. The giants of lyricdom are no more. Only
comparable time will tell whether Javed Akhtar and Sameer will touch
those heights, for these are the two men on whom hopes are now pinned
most because of their track-records. Nevertheless, an era is over.
And Akhtar does not work extensively and is now returning to scripts,
while Sameer is already in overdrive for the masala makers.
In any case,
we need many more men of substance in lyricdom — especially
at a time when film music and lyrics are in mortal danger through
multiple menaces, led by musical ignoramuses and the film financing
areas, and the influx of composers, stars and filmmakers who are
neither knowledgeable nor interested in quality poetry and melody.
Add an increasing propensity towards shallow and callow films and
song situations, an increasingly Westernised ethos, and the invasion
of music channels of the kind where VJs do not know who Kalyanji-Anandji
are, or who ask you quite seriously, “This Javed Akhtar, does
he also sing?” - and you know that the malaise has spread deep.
 We
positively need an army of new blood in this field, men committed
to quality and original thinking, to simplicity as an adornment
of substance. We require all-rounders who will not straitjacket
themselves into genres. A current music director who worked extensively
with Anand Bakshi, asked who had good potential. The name that came
up was of Mehboob, who started writing for A.R. Rahman. Mehboob’s
lyrics in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Yesudas’ album Sitaron
Mein Tu Hi speak of a hidden potential that could in the right environs,
translate into something memorable in the years to come. But the
man, said the composer, was said to have a problem — he was
laidback, slow and a shade whimsical. Such personal traits have
been known to spell finito even to greater talents.
Jalees Sherwani
and Rasheed Khan (Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai) write almost exclusively for
Sajid-Wajid, as they do not want to be in the rat-race. As of today,
their output is limited, and one will watch their future progress
with interest. Abbas Tyrewala has shown promise in Love Ke Liye
Kuchh Bhi Karega but needs more opportunities to prove himself.
Ibrahim Ashq
and Nusrat Badr have done above-the-rut work in Kaho Naa... Pyaar
Hai/Yeh Terra Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar and Devdas respectively. But there
is a shade of attitude there, which is enemy no. 1 of creative evolution
and sustenance in this industry. They cannot afford to express their
poor opinion of their contemporaries till they have proved beyond
doubt that they are better, and consistently so.
 Faaiz
Anwaar had some potential too, which was squandered by his stubborness.
Nitin Raikwar has shown flashes of range as well as some indications
of substance (Mast, Alisha, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya) on occasion, but
the man has allowed himself to be branded as a word - spinner for
tapori and flippant lyrics out of career expediencies. Salim Bijnori
and Nasir Faraaz exhibited original thinking in the songs they wrote
for Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar, but they should be able to write six films
at a time, and all preferably alone. Can they?
Shyam Anuragi,
poor man, is another Raikwar. He began writing very poetically,
which damned him. Soon his light songs in Alisha’s and Suneeta
Rao’s albums, and films like Vijaypath (Ruk ruk ruk) proved
hits, and today, no one takes him for serious lyrics.
Rahat Indori
too showed flashes in his many songs for Anu Malik in Sir, Najayaz,
Hameshaa and Kareeb, but Indori was hardly prolific and doing solo
films was never a special forte with him. Today he can only take
solace in the fact that Vinod Chopra is working with him for the
third time.
There are of
course many obvious reasons why today’s lyricists lack the
calibre of the greats. We have only mentioned the extrinsic ones
above. The intrinsic ones include (oftener than not) a lack of a
strong foundation in literature, the fact that their inspirational
sources are the master lyricists rather than their own reading and
experiences in life, the fact that they have to face insecurity
and seek safety in mediocrity and compromise, and of course their
extreme swings between showing off their shaayari and kowtowing
to trends.
Of course,
both Gulzar and Nida Fazli could have carried the baton, but they
are more prone to writing in literary styles rather than going for
simplicity, pithy relevance and mainstream appeal. And that’s
the reason why an era ended with the passing of Indeewar, Majrooh
and Anand Bakshi, for whom the film, not self-projection, was paramount.
Who will fill in?
—Rajiv
Vijayakar
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