Comments (0)
News |  24 Aug 2010 18:02 |  By ShikhaShah

Squad of 9 lyricists pen down lyrics for Anjaana Anjaani

MUMBAI: You might have heard of multiple stars acting as well as making guest appearances in a movie, the superlative paradigm can be the Shah Rukh Khan starrer â€?Om Shanti Om'. Multiple composers creating music for a film is also not unusual but how about a long list of lyricists wracking their brains to write the apt and situational lyrics for each track for an album? 

Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjaana Anjaani creates a record as the film has a total of nine lyricists who have penned down the lyrics for all eight original tacks plus one remix version which completes the album composed by the hit duo Vishal-Shekhar. Is this the new trend dawning over the industry or is it just one another experiment? 

The team of lyricists working on the film consists of Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Irshad Kamil, Kausar Munir, Neelesh Misra, Kumaar, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Anvita Dutt Guptan and Caralisa Monteiro 

The film's title track  which is climbing the popularity charts, â€?Anjaana Anjaani Ki Kahani' is written by Neelesh Misra who has the recent romantic track â€?I am in love' from â€?Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' to his credit  Talking about the idea of having multiple lyricists working on a project, Misra says, This is the first time I am working in such an arrangement. I generally prefer to work on an entire film myself. But Vishal and Shekhar are the composers of the film and it's entirely their prerogative. New voice for each song might help the composers lend a new feel to every song....

The title score is a club song and a dance number with new entrant Nikhil D'Souza and Monali Thakur adding the necessary spunk to it.

Urdu poet and lyricist, Irshad Kamil of Chameli, Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal fame was surprised to know that he was given the credit for the track â€?Anjaana Anjaani' to which he had contributed just around five to six lines. Talking to Radioandmusic.com Kamil said, I didn't know that Siddharth would give me the credit for this song. Siddharth and I are good friends and so I was supposed to work on the film  But I couldn't spare the required time from my schedule and hence we mutually decided that I won't be working on it."  

However Kamil doesn't quite support the idea of signing more than two-three lyricists for a film as he feels this might detach the lyricist from the film. Kamil explains, If there are many lyricists working on one project, each of them will be able to contribute a very small fraction. This will not give them a chance to get emotionally involved with the film. But when there is a single lyricist working on it, he puts his flesh and blood into it. Moreover, even the history of Indian cinema says that having least number of lyricists works best... 

He further added, Moreover when the characters and the language in a film remain the same throughout, why do we need so many lyricists working on it? I don't think the concept of multiple lyricists helps giving a new feel or a new set of words to the songs."  

According to Kamil, the greater the number, the greater is the confusion. "With multiple lyricists, even if a track is a hit among audiences people still have no clue about who has written the song and the lyricist ends up getting no credit and recognition for the efforts he has put in," he justifies his stand 

Misra while sharing his experience of working with Vishal-Shekhar who have number of hits like Dostana, Bachna Ae Haseeno and I Hate Luv Storys, said, It was quite tough working on the project though. Siddharth (director) as well as both Vishal and Shekar are quite meticulous about what they want and they make it a point that the end product is satisfying. Siddharth prefers simple, meaningful lyrics. Even Vishal is a great lyricist and hence he understands writing well. They want the song to turn out just perfect and writing in such a scenario is a little challenging but fun at the same time... 

Importantly, the song was written after the film was done which was a plus point. It becomes easier to the give the song the right feel. But I am glad I am a part of the film. My song is the title track of the film so I hope it picks up well,... he added.

Send in your comments to: shikha.shah@indiantelevision.co.in 

Games