MUMBAI: Raj Shekhar, lyricist of 'Tanu Weds Manu' and its more recent version 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' has written a lot of children's stories like 'Roo Roo Raat', 'Five Little Monkeys' and 'Being Wise' amongst many others. He says that it all started with a deep interest in poetries, which he read during his early days. Hailing from Madhepura, Bihar, Raj Shekhar was exposed to a lot of literature and theater.

Shekhar was an assistant to Anand Rai when he directed 'Tanu Weds Manu' in 2011. At the time, Rai was aware of the fact that Shekhar could write poetry. "The lyricist was not around and that is when Raiji asked me write a song. So I did and he loved it, and that is how I ended up doing the whole project," said Shekhar. Like the last time, Rai gave him the freedom to write lyrics according to the situation for the latest edition of the film.

It took Shekhar around 11 months to complete the album, the lyricist revealed. All he was told was to make the film soundtrack bigger and better, considering the film was now a brand. During those 11 months, he went off social media completely. "I actually do not want that kind of pressure from the people around. Also you know social media you get various reactions may be 100 people are praising your work but even if one turns out to pass a negative comment you might end up feeling bad," Shekhar explained.

During the five-year gap between both films, Shekhar wrote scripts for television, dialogues for film and wrote stories for children. "It feels amazing when you write stories for children as they are all about innocence. Simultaneously you need to be creative and also need to convey the message effectively. You need creativity as many children have a shorter span of attention," he explained.
A fan of poets like Javed Akhtar and Gulzar, Shekhar has received a few offers to release books with poetries written by him. However, he feels that the job is better suited for other people.

Hailing from a small village, Shekhar would sit glued to the radio all day. "I come from a place which only got electricity a couple of years ago. My parents are farmers and they had their own radio sets. Post dinner when my mother would ask me to sleep, I would hide the radio under my pillow and would listen to it. I used to listen to the radio for 16-17 hours a day," he reminisced. "Despite my parents being farmers, they never stopped me from chasing my dreams of becoming a director."

Shekhar also revealed that he initially dreamt of becoming a radio jockey or a teacher. Even now he dreams to run a radio station in a small town, as he has an emotional connect with the medium.