Women of words

Trendsetters

A few know of their existence in the film industry and their contribution to music. Female lyricists in Bollywood are a league of their own. Surekha Kadapa-Bose traces their journey in a male-dominated field.

What is common to these Hindi film numbers apart from the fact that they were chat toppers of their time? Pritam aan milo… (1955), Jabse tumne bansi bajaya (1974), Kahan se aaye badara (1981), Tum salamat raho (1983), Aap yeh sochake milate huye (1998), Aafton ke parinde (2012), Piya o re piya (2012)? Well, they have been penned by women poets and lyricists, a truly rare species in Bollywood.

Around the world, audiences cannot imagine a desi potboiler without dramatic song-and-dance sequences that take the story forward. With the exception of a few, Hindi movies have anywhere between five to 22 songs, on an average. Yet, 99.99 per cent of them have been written by men.

A pioneer

In fact, the first woman to enter this exclusive club of writers and poets was Saroj Mohini Nayyar, the wife of late composer, O P Nayyar, when she wrote Pritam aan milo in 1955 for Guru Dutt’s Mr and Mrs 55. She may not have been prolific, but she was certainly a pioneer. She is known to have written only one more song, although it did not achieve the same status as the other one did. After that, it took two decades for another woman to make her presence felt — Maya Govind, a creative and popular poetess.

“In a way, I was the first full-fledged woman lyricist,” says Govind. “In those days, women still shunned the world of films. The late actor, Bharat Bhushan, had heard my poems and invited me to pen lyrics for his film. Then I kept getting work through word-of-mouth publicity. Over the years, I have written for some 450 films, including Gaja Gamini, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Hafta Vasool, among others.”

Govind has been an active participant in several kavi sammelans (poetry readings) and she is the recipient of several literary awards. Great success has followed her right from her very first songs — Jabse tumane bansi bajayi re and Naino mein darpan hai for the 1974 film, Aarop, which starred Vinod Khanna and Saira Banu.

The question to ask is that if Govind could be a real success in the world of Bollywood poetry, why then has there been such a dearth of female lyric writers? After her, the only names that come to mind are those of Rani Malik, Prabha Thakur and Indu Jain. Of course, recently, three new talents have proved their mettle — Kausar Munir, Anvita Dutt Guptan and Priya Panchal.

Now compare their modest number with that of their male counterparts. The list of male lyricists is quite literally endless, starting from yesteryear’s greats like Kavi Pradeep, Shakeel Badayuni, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anand Bakshi, right up to wordsmiths like Gulzar, Javed Akhtar and Nida Fazli to current favourites such as Prasoon Joshi, Amithabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil and others.

Changing times

Composer Ismail Darbar, well known for creating the soundtracks of films such as Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya and others, remarks, “Who says there is a dearth of women lyricists. The problem is with the producers and directors in our industry. They don’t want to take the trouble of looking out for new talent. They prefer tried and tested people.”

And this when Indian cinema is actually marking its centenary! One of the reasons behind fewer women opting for this vocation is that they asked to go for sittings to places, which may not appear “very conducive”. Frequent late night brainstorming sessions in studios are also a deterrent.

Despite these challenges, today, there are some women who have forayed into this competitive world and become quite successful in a short span of time. Of late, several popular numbers have been written by female lyricists. Munir has penned Mashallah, Saiyaara and also the anthemic Ishaqzaade. In one of her interviews, she admitted that being born and brought up in Bandra, a posh suburb of Mumbai, has meant that she doesn’t know Urdu very well, but she loves to remember words. In fact, the words of her most popular song, Ishaqzaade, came to her as she was trying to recall words like nawabzaade, shahzaade, haramzaade, and “so a person in ishq has to be ishaqzaade!” she had observed.

Guptan is another sought-after lyricist, who has been able to establish her name in the industry. Her songs, Kukkad kamal da, Khuda jaane main fida hoon, Hosh hawas hai laapata, Laung da lashkara, and so on, are on every radio station and I-pod in town. Then there is Panchal, who has just joined this group with songs like Karma is a bitch, Khoon choos le, Pee pa pee pa ho gaya.

Incidentally, none of these newcomers are really ‘freshers’. As a singer, Panchal has more than 2,000 shows to her credit with Kalyanji-Anandji’s troupe. Munir comes from the television industry, while Guptan was in the advertising world.

This trio has been lucky enough to work with big banners like Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions. They have also been given due credit for their success. But then, most are not that fortunate.

“Earlier in our industry, everyone respected each other. But I see today’s youngsters and wonder how good songs can come from them when they are surrounded by ill-mannered people speaking a filthy tongue? They must find the industry real tough,’’ observes Govind.

Even the newcomers would agree with this assessment. Veterans like Govind and Darbar and others have a piece of advice: “One has to be strong and not bow down to demands that one don’t want to meet. Things are changing so, perhaps, we will see more women lyricists soon!”