Evergreen lyricist Gulzar was nominated for three of his works in this year’s Filmfare awards - ‘Dheere jalna’ from ‘Paheli’, ‘Chup chup ke’ from ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ and ‘Kajra re’ again from ‘Bunty Aur Babli’. Of course his ‘Kajra re’ was the hot favorite of everyone. Gulzar thinks this award wining song is not devoid of poetry. At this moment he is writing songs for editor Shirish Kunder’s directorial debut ‘Jaan-E-Man’ and wants to learn the language of mainstream cinema.

You seem to be on a quest for new peaks to conquer.
Recently I returned from Chennai after a music sitting with Mani Ratnam and A.R. Rahman. We are working together again after ‘Dil Se’ for Mani’s ‘Guru’. Again we’ll try to attempt a different sound. Guru has a serious layer below the surface, which I’ll tap as a poet. Mani Ratnam is the only director who asks for abstract images. It’s lovely to share my poetry with him. His Hindi is getting better. But I’m lagging behind. My Tamil should improve soon.

As a lyricist, I’d say my first turning point as an abstract lyricist was ‘Humne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mehekti khushboo’ in ‘Khamoshi’. Another turning point was Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se’ where with ‘Chaiyyan chaiyyan’ my sufiyana phase started. Now let’s see, perhaps with ‘Guru’ there will be another turning point. It’s wonderful to work with a director who expresses scenes musically. (more…)

Sonu is a youth icon among singing aspirants.

I had not noticed this development until two to three years ago when Shaan told me that many of the songs that the contestants sang on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa were mine. Now, when I’m a judge on Indian Idol I do realise that the contestants tend sing my difficult songs like ‘Tera jadoo chal gaya’, ‘Zindagi maut na ban jaye’ and ‘Satrangi re’. I’ve now begun to realise that good work always reaches people’s hearts. So I just do my work. As a singer I’m far from perfect and maybe I’ll never get there, but there is no harm in trying. I am 32 and hope to do a lot as a human and a singer in the years to come. (more…)

Recently Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said that song-and-dance numbers are unique to Indian cinema and should not be dropped to appeal to international audiences.

Shah Rukh whose movie ‘Paheli’ also starring super actress starring Rani Mukherjee was thrown out of the Oscar race said that we (Bollywood) should not listen to Critics who often complain that songs (which pop up as dream sequences in most Indian movies) need to be curtailed since audiences overseas find them irrelevant to the plot.

However, Khan said that while movies should be shorter than the average three-hour length, the song-dance routines must stay. Khan said, “Films are an important aspect of entertainment in India and we should retain the songs and dances - that’s our USP (unique selling point).” (more…)