MUMBAI: Prasoon Joshi dons the hat of an advertiser, lyricist and a screen writer. Along with writing for numerous ad campaigns, Joshi has also penned lyrics for the successful ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, one of the most successful crusades for cleaning India. The 43 year old is extremely happy with the kind of response that he has got.
According to him, changing people’s mentality might take a while, but he is happy with the awareness that has spread, and people are getting conscious about littering. “I think God has been kind to bestow me with an art and I should try and extend myself, which is what I do. If I see my talent being utilsed for a good cause, that makes me very happy. I feel that rather than being cynical and being negative about things not changing, I am contributing in some or the other way,” said Joshi. In his opinion, along with awareness, we also need stringent laws which can help the campaign become even more successful.
The ‘Fanna’ lyricist also recently penned lyrics for the film ‘Margarita With A Straw’ which features Kalki Koechlin. Having written five songs for the film, Joshi said that he knew the producer Shonali Bose for a long time and she was the one who helped him understand the character in a better manner. It took him a long time to write the songs as Koechlin’s character is a complex one. “You do not meet this kind of a character every day, so I had to write a lot before we could actually zero down on the songs,” he commented.
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The first song ‘Dusokute’ is a love song and he has captured the emotions of the protagonist who is a song writer herself. “I picked up the word ‘Dusokute from Jai Barva and it means two eyes. I keep picking words from people, and sometimes they mean nothing. Like ‘Masakaali’ did not mean anything, but it sounded good which is why I retained it,” said Joshi.
Speaking about the track ‘Meri Aadat Mera Hissa’ from the film, Joshi said, “This is one song which I took me a long time to write as I had to capture the emotions of the girl, who is disabled and has a very special relationship with her mother.” The album also has a party song ‘Foreign Balamwa’ with a tinge of folk included in it. “This song is about a girl whose lover is a migrant and she is left alone. She goes on to say that her heart is not a remote control and she needs her husband,” he elucidated. The song ‘Chune Chali Aasman’ is about self realisation, and what she is made up of. Mikey McCleary, who is the composer of the album, has also worked with Joshi on jingles.
When asked his opinion about the kind of lyrics used today in Bollywod, he said, “I agree that people have done some work which has objectified women and has crass lyrics, but one cannot categorise all lyricists. There have been people like Kaifi Azmi, Shailendra, Gulzar, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Sahir because of whom I started writing.” He did add that he would not be amongst those lyricists who write crass lyrics.
‘Margarita With A Straw’ releases on Friday, 17 April, 2015.
