At the launch of a television programme, which celebrates the golden era of Bollywood music, veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar traced how the art of penning lyrics has diminished in the industry. He said that one of the many reasons for the shift is the shrinking of our language. By Shrabasti Mallik
The best thing about the creative genius’ who shone brighter than the stars in the golden era of Indian films (the time starting from the 50s and going on till the 70s) is their well-timed and sound sense of humour. And it’s instantaneous, as most of their creative work. So when Javed Akhtar was asked to sit while addressing the media he wittily said, “Nahi main yahi theek hoon. Kuch gadbar hua to bhag sakta hoon (No I am fine here, if anything goes wrong I can run away),” setting the mood.
Akhtar was in the Capital to launch The Golden Years 1950 - 1975, A musical journey with Javed Akhtar, a show on Zee Classic. The veteran lyricist is one of the few lucky ones to have worked with few of the stalwarts of the music industry like RD Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and the like, and in the show he will unfold the stories of these greats. According to the format of the show, Akhtar will trace 25 years, each year in one episode. “These were songs that I grew up listening to so I am practically being paid for something I have always been interested in,” said Akhtar who added that it was that time that the best of Indian film music was composed. “You have to draw a line somewhere because it is not that we did not have good music before that time neither does that mean that the music composed now is bad. See, before the 40s, the songs were a bit too slow for us and after the 80s it became too fast for us. That time in the middle had the perfect tempo and the music had finesse because there were lyricists like Shailendra and Sahir ludhianvi, music directors and composers like Nauhsad, SD Burman, OP Nayyar who were at their best and were exceptionally talented. So were singers like lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, there will never be one like them ever again. You pick up any department from that period, you will find artistes with no comparison,” Akhtar elaborated.
We asked him about few of the interesting stories that he would share in the show and he told us how Salil Chowdhury had a very sound knowledge of European classical music and that he was the one to introduce the jumping note in the Indian soundtrack. “If you listen to it first, you will not be able to catch the beat but in a while you start to understand and enjoy it,” he shared.
He believes that it was the time where writing was at its peak, which has now degenerated a little. He explained with an example of how strong and meaningful lyrics used to be. “Earlier even a B grade movie had good standards of music and meaningful lyrics, which is lacking today. Our language is shrinking in society because we are losing our habit of reading good pieces of literary texts. literature ceases to exist in our priority list and for the last 40 years, people are not exposing the generation to literature and poetry. We do not use proverbs anymore in our daily conversation because we are not fully exposed to our mother tongue. The young generation is not told to learn literature and that reflects in the songs. If you are exposed to poetry, your aesthetics are formed,” he pointed out.
According to Akhtar, it is important to learn English but the fact that we are learning it at the cost of our mother tongue saddens him. “If today someone speaks proper Hindi, log sochte hai ki uski paidaish theek se nahi hui hai,” he explained. That is one of the main reasons that the present day songs lack depth. He explained how the idea ‘oh nature’ has gone out of the picture because we do not have that in our lives. “We are achieving tempo at the cost of depth. It is important to keep balance,” he added.
It is, however, important to bring together the best of both worlds — accept the best of the old and also embrace the technology of the new. “The new technology enables better recording techniques which we did not have earlier. Every package should have something of the new and of the old,” he pointed out.
At the end of it all, Akhtar feels glad that the younger generation is taking interest in the arts and realising on their own on what they has lost in the middle. He gave the example of a recent Urdu festival where he saw a large audience of youngsters. “I just feel glad that the young generation is coming around and trying to find their roots on their own. No hope is lost yet,” he wrapped up.