Mumbai3 minutes agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari and Abhinav Tripathi
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If we like a song, we praise the singer of that song. Sometimes credit is also given to the music director who composed that song. Although we forget to mention one person, we are talking about lyric writers.
Lyricists are those who write songs. The first step in making songs is lyric writing. The lyric writer writes the songs, then the music director prepares its composition. After the composition is ready, the song is recorded by the singer.
The job of a lyric writer is not easy. They should have good knowledge of the language. The more languages you know, including Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Sanskrit, the better.
In the new episode of Reel to Real, we will understand the working process of these lyricists. For this we have talked to famous lyric writers AM Toraj, Shabbir Ahmed and Sameer Anjan.
Most of the songs of the recently streamed web series Heeramandi have been written by AM Toraj, while Shabbir Ahmed has written the songs of many superhit films like Salman Khan’s film Wanted and Bodyguard. Apart from this, Sameer Anjan has written more than 5000 songs in his career.
A.M. Toraj said that writing one song is equal to writing 10 ghazals. Meanwhile, the ego of the makers also has to be satisfied. Padmavat’s famous song ‘Binte Dil’ by A.M. Toraj himself has written. For this song, Sanjay Leela Bhansali got the award for Best Music Director and Arijit Singh for Best Singer Male, but the song writer A.M. Toraj remained untouched by this.
The job of a lyric writer is not easy, the ego of the producer-directors also has to be satisfied.
A.M. Toraj says, ‘Writing one song is equivalent to writing 10 ghazals. A tune has parameters. Meanwhile, the ego of the producer-directors also has to be satisfied. He points out thirty thousand shortcomings in a three-line statement. Some people have problem with words, while others do not understand the entire line. In such a situation, the job of a lyric writer is very difficult. They work hard, so I think a lyric writer should get credit for his work.
Lyrics writer should have a wealth of words and should also be able to write poems.
A.M. Toraj told what qualities one should have to become a good lyric writer? He said, ‘First of all, it is important to have knowledge of poetry and prose. Apart from this, one should also have understanding of Hindi and Urdu. A lyric writer should know poems. Only when he has a collection of words can he write songs.
What is Antara and Mukhra, let us understand it with an example.
A song from Salman Khan’s film Bodyguard takes lines from the love story Teri-Meri.
Your, my, my, your love story is difficult, it cannot be expressed in two words (this line is facetious)
When separated from each other, when made for each other (this line is antara hai)
The song ‘Teri-Meri Meri-Teri’ was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, while its lines were written by Shabbir Ahmed.
Bhansali was in dilemma regarding Padmaavat’s song ‘Binte Dil’
Toraj tells an interesting thing about ‘Binte Dil’. He said that Sanjay Leela Bhansali was in a dilemma regarding this song. Bhansali said that people will not be able to understand it, so let it be. After some thinking, he kept this song in the film. The result was that the song received two National Awards.
There is a pang inside MM Toraj regarding this also. He said that it has received two national awards, but he did not get anything. Toraj said, ‘I worked very hard to write this song. Prepared song lines from Arabic words and did a lot of research. Only then this song was ready. When it came to awards, I did not get anything. There will always be sadness about this.
This song was filmed on actor Ranveer Singh who played Alauddin Khilji in the film.
What is the difference between lyrics writing and script writing?
AM Toraj also told us the difference between script writing and lyrics writing. He said, ‘Both are complete opposites of each other. In lyric writing, things are explained in fewer words. Like a lot of things come out in a 3 minute song. On the other hand, in script writing a small topic has to be written in a larger format. Like every film is made on some topic or the other. Now the script writer writes the story of the entire film on the same small topic.
Lyrics writers should read famous poets of the country
Shabbir Ahmed said that a lyric writer should first read all the famous poets of the country. Be it Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi, Hasrat Jaipuri or Anand Bakshi. Apart from this, one should also have a very good command over the language. Must have knowledge of all languages including Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Sanskrit, Awadhi and Braj.
Salman Khan shows great interest in lyrics writing
Shabbir said that Salman Khan is very involved in songwriting. He pays a lot of attention to lyrics. We also pay attention to what the tempo and rhythm should be. If they feel that some changes should be made then they give suggestions on that also.
Lyrics writer should also get good remuneration
Toraj says that a lyric writer should also make reasonable demands for his fees. If the budget of the film is big, then obviously the lyric writer should also get good remuneration, but where the budget is small, unnecessary demands for money should not be made.
Amitabh Bachchan had told…what qualities a lyric writer should have?
Lyrics writer Sameer Anjaan, who has written about five thousand songs, told what qualities a lyricist should have. He said, ‘Amitabh Bachchan once told me that a good lyric writer should have strong IQ and observation power. He should have the strength to digest success. Behavior should be good. If he has all these qualities, then only he can become a big name in future.
Sameer Anjan (centre) has a very good relationship with Amitabh Bachchan.
Those lyric writers who write lines keeping the actors in mind, do injustice to their work.
Are songs written keeping the actors in mind? A.M. Toraj first registers a strong objection to this, then says, ‘Actors should never write lyrics after thinking. Those lyric writers who do this do injustice to their work. An actor is a person who has to perform on the song written by you, he has to hum the lines written by you, then how can you write songs thinking about them?
It is necessary for lyric writers to become members of the association.
Is it necessary for lyric writers to become members of the association? Shabbir said, ‘The advantage of becoming a member is that if someone steals the songs written by you, the association will stand with you at that time and help in taking action. Whereas if a lyric writer is not its member and anything wrong happens to him, then the association will never support him.
Input- Virendra Mishra