Lyricists deserve equal credit as stars

Aamir Khan’s recent comment overlooking the contribution of lyricists 
in the film’s success has evoked much ire, writes Ranjan Das Gupta

IN 1974, at the peak of his career, superstar Rajesh Khanna remarked, "The superhit numbers of my films are remembered more because of my presence than the singer or anyone else." He was severely criticised by even greater stars like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor for his monstrous ego and stupid comments. History proved later that the superstar literally paled into oblivion and it was the contribution of creators like Anand Bakshi, Sahir Ludhianvi, S.D. Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Kishore Kumar which were highly responsible in getting him his superstar status.

A recent comment by Aamir Khan along the same lines has created a big rift between him and Javed Akhtar. It has only highlighted Aamir’s short sightedness. Perhaps he has forgotten the contribution of lyricists like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Samir and Javed Akhtar whose compositions well tuned by the likes of Anand Milind and rendered by eminent singers like Udit Narayan were truly responsible for him to achieve stardom in the 1990s.

In our nation, stars are worshipped like demi-gods and contributions of scriptwriters, editors, cinematographers and even directors are overlooked by the masses as well as the media. It appears as if only a star is the saving grace of a film, no one else. Aamir Khan’s comments that not lyricists but stars make songs immortal is a very wrong and stupid comment on behalf of the king of modern day Hindi cinema. It is ridiculous also.

Criticising his view, ace actor Dilip Kumar points out, "Fifty percent of my success as an actor should be credited to Shakeel Badauni, Naushad, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh and Mohd. Rafi. Their haunting lyrics aptly tuned by the composers and rendered sonorously by playback singers added sublimity to my performances. In fact, many of these songs literally inspired me to deliver my best during the respective sequences. I really don’t understand how could an actor of Aamir Khan’s calibre make such an ignorant statement."

Supporting Dilip Kumar, leading actress, Sharmila Tagore adds, "Aamir should have properly conducted his homework, knew what to speak and then commented. Sadly these heroes of the silver screen are only limited to their films and the corporate culture which promotes them into demi gods. They have no right to speak haywire about national as well as social issues without respecting intellectual property, a sad practice in India."

It is easy to say that the presence of Madhubala or Zeenat Aman made Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya or Dum Maro Dum immortal.`A0A thinking person, who may be from the masses and not the intelligensia will never go overboard to derogate a lyricist, composer, singer and give undue credit to the star who lipped the song. Analysing the situation, renowned actor, director, producer, Manoj Kumar laughs, "If someone tells me, I made Mere Desh Ki Dharti, evergreen, I will say get out and never show me your face again. As a director the song was my conceived idea but equal credit goes to Gulshan Bawra for penning it, Kalyanji Anandji for tuning and Mahendra Kapoor for rendering it so perfectly."

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the golden period of lyrics in Indian cinema, lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri and Kaifi Azmi were like looked up as cult figures by even icons like Bimal Ray, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and Vijay Anand. In fact after recording all the songs for his musical magnum opus, Heer Ranjha, director Chetan Anand commented, "Heer Ranjha is more of Kaifi saab’s creation than mine. Without him it is soulless."

The present days has seen the media creating larger-than-life images of heroes and heroines of the silver screen who never deserve it in the real sense of the term. It is also to be blamed for calculatively denying the contributions of script writers, cameraman, editors and sound recordists. According to them, who bothers about lyricists until and unless it is like a Jai Ho for which Gulzar wins an Oscar though it is one of his mediocre creations as he himself admits. Next time the likes of Aamir Khan should be careful about commenting on the contributions of those who get together to make a memorable film or they themselves become the butt of ridicule.

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