National award winner and all- round music connoisseur who mesmerizes the listeners with his unparalleled and unprecedented melodies, Prasoon Joshi has added another feather in his crowded cap with Prakash Jha’s upcoming movie, â€?Aarakshan’.
In a candid conversation with Poonam Ahuja, the ace bollywood film songwriter opens up on the changing trend of using irreverent lyrics in Hindi film songs and composing for the first time in â€?Aarakshan’… Joshi in addition to writing four songs for the film is also the brains behind the tune of â€?Kaun Si Dor…’ which he describes as incidental rather than being intentional, Often while writing to a tune I have the music keys in my head, and while penning for â€?Aarakshan’ the song melody flowed through my mind. I bounced the idea to Prakash Jha and Shankar Mahadevan who liked it and gave me the opportunity to compose….
Considering that Joshi is known for his profound lyrics what new and refreshing is he experimenting in Aarakshan? As a lyricist, I generally undertake projects where I can learn something and grow as a person. When I did â€?Taare Zameen Par’ I got to understand children, with â€?Rang De Basanti’ I explored the youth and their expression, â€?Delhi 6′ made me more familiar with the culture of Delhi and for the first time with â€?Aarakshan’ I realized that where do I stand on the issue of reservation which is a huge subject. Prakash Jha knows his subject very well and it is very rare and refreshing that someone who works on a project is so well-versed. It was great ideating and elaborating with him on the complex hierarchical structure of India,… reveals Prasoon.
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In the new bollywood cuture where item numbers and crude lyrics have become the salt of every movie Prasoon favors the evergreen classics of 70’s which were more subject-driven, he confronts, I don’t want to undermine any body’s work but more than today I feel the directors in the 60-70’s understood the value and essence of writing a song. It’s a very difficult task as you have to first understand the song completely and then strike a balance with the subject and then entertain the audiences. Everybody has their way of working but for me the civilization, the society, the language and the customs hold prime importance which can be depicted through my work. Writing a song is a very challenging job, I am personally not comfortable in using abusive words myself, but in every era we will have different kind of writers, the time and people will have to decide whether it is right or wrong….
It’s just not those four lines, it’s with the song that you try and convey the problems and entertain the viewers. Cultures do have a way of rejecting something they don’t feel is right for them, I think naturally something which is not right will get rejected it’s an organic process,… he adds.
The opinion that profane lyrics are publicly demanded, especially by the younger generation and are not produced by emulating the west, Prasoon protests, I did â€?Rang De Basanti’ a youth-subject, I do advertisements with youths and I think it is a misconception that young people are irresponsible and â€?Besharam’. But yes, if youngsters find things non-objectionable and are comfortable to see with the family then they are to be blamed, why blame the creator. In the market economy if you want to reject something – don’t buy and it will automatically get rejected, but if you are listening and talking about the content you are giving it a nod, so I think at the end both the creator and the people share equal responsibility….
Shedding light on the fact that censor board is in a way responsible for broadcasting such depraved and offensive content, Joshi urges, The censor board is the apex grounding body but it is not completely responsible, the major problem lies in the broadcast media that do not prepare the audience before airing such certified content. I have no problem with the airing of adult content but it should be something that the audience voluntarily chooses. There should be a particular time slot or a precautionary note before broadcast of such adult content….
After being a media veteran and excelling in all major fields of music, is singing in the pipeline for Prasoon? “I have been gifted with a good voice and I have no problems in accepting that I can sing reasonably. Infact, Lataji and AR Rahman want me to sing, which is a compliment for me. I feel one should depart one’s lifetime to pursue one thing and do it well. I have chosen to follow my pen and do complete justice to it and when I see greats and geniuses with their work I feel I have a long way to go….
To do justice to one task it takes a lifetime and I am very serious about what I do. The more you explore and understand things the more you get into the intricacy of it. It’s not about adding another feather in my cap; it’s about how well I do. Music has always embellished me in terms of my experience and opened another window in my life. It took me 15 years to say that I understand advertising. Rather than being multifaceted, someone who has done everything I would like to be remembered for some piece of work which is historical. I want my work to live beyond me.”
