[arr] ‘I was dying to write a film like this’ - PRASOON JOSH

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 03:46:11 -0800


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060215/asp/calcutta/story_5849869.asp 

`I was dying to write a film like this'
IAdman PRASOON JOSH tells Pratim D. Gupta how penning Rang De Basanti was about concept and craft, passion and poetry
Alice Patten and Aamir Khan with others in a moment from Rang De Basanti

Thodi si dhool meri dharti ki mere watan ki
Thodi si khushboo baurai se mast pawan ki
Thodi si dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
Jin mein ho junoon junoon woh boondein laal lahoo ki
Yeh sab tu mila mila le
Phir rang tu khila khila le
Aur mohe tu rang de basanti yaara
Mohe tu rang de basanti…

When Prasoon Joshi was penning these magic words to awaken a generation, he was not just writing the lyrics of a film song. For him, this was another attempt to arouse the youth of the country, something he has been trying for long through his advertising work as the regional creative head of McCann Erickson (South and South-East Asia).

"No single movement can have as much impact on people as popular culture can," says the man of the moment from Mumbai.

It's not that Prasoon got into song writing to cash in on the popular culture named Bollywood. "Poetry has been a passion for me since childhood," he reveals. "I have been writing mostly in Hindi and Urdu and sometimes also in English. Two of my books in Hindi poetry also got published. My first song writing happened with the band Silk Route for their album Boondein. Then, I went on to write for the hit Shubha Mudgal albums, Ab Ke Saawan and Mann Ke Manjeere."

Penning lyrics for films started with Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja, followed by Vipul Shah's Aankhen, Kunal Kohli's Hum Tum and Revathy's Phir Milenge.

"With Rang De Basanti, I have penned the dialogues for the first time apart from writing the lyrics," says Prasoon. "Although it was a new thing for me, it wasn't that difficult since dialogues have always played a big role in all my advertising work, from Thanda matlab Coca Cola to Chloromint's Dobara mat poochhna."

But there's a difference between writing dialogues for a 30-second commercial and a three-hour-long movie, admits Prasoon. "It's like the difference between writing a haiku and a long poem," he says. "Each has its own challenges but what advertising does teach you is the economy of words. If you carefully follow the Rang De dialogues, they are not lengthy, very easy and short. No one is a born writer, everyone imbibes his style through his experiences and it is advertising that has helped me develop my style."

A style that allows Aamir Khan and gang to mouth some of the most natural and thought-provoking lines in recent Bollywood memory. A sample: "We have one foot in the past and one foot in the future; so we are pissing on the present" — DJ (Aamir), in endearing Punjabi-Hindi.

The feel, the flow

Initially, though, it wasn't easy for Prasoon to get his writing right for Rang De. "It took me a lot of time to get into the groove," he recalls. "The youth, the anger, I had a lot of discussions with Aamir and Rakeysh (Mehra) before I got it right. Once I got the hang of things, then it became quite effortless for me."

Another challenge was to write songs for A.R. Rahman. "What I found quite unique about him was his improvisational abilities; he would change the songs till the very last minute," Prasoon recalls. "Like for the Lata Mangeshkar song Lukachhupi, he came and wanted me to change the words on the day of the recording. I had to go back to the same thought process that the song had demanded. Also, Rahman never writes in conventional meter and has this unconventional way of writing music. That makes writing songs for him even more challenging."

Prasoon feels a great sense of pride in announcing that all the songs of Rang De Basanti were his concepts. "That made writing the lyrics very special," he says. "I was expressing my thoughts, whether it was Abhi abhi hua yakeen or Har dil mein boond boond karta hai H2SO4… I was not writing for any character. They were not lip-synced situational numbers, they were all conceptual songs."
Prasoon Joshi

What made the UTV project stand out for Prasoon and inspired him come up with unforgettable lines was the motivation, he feels. "I myself have always felt that India has a lot of potential and the youth of the country can be the only guiding force," he explains. "I was dying to write a film like this. So, I took a lot of responsibility when I was writing the dialogues and the lyrics. It was really special."

Although Rang De's success has opened the floodgates of offers to write for Bollywood, Prasoon's taking it nice and easy. "I wear too many hats and have to handle 12 countries in my region as the creative director of McCann," he reveals. "And we have got so many new accounts like Liril, Britannia and Intel. So, as of now, I just have Fanaah where I have written the songs composed by Jatin-Lalit."

If film accolades have been pouring in, Prasoon's ad work has also won him international acclaim. He has been voted one of the 40 Asian Young Global Leaders by an affiliate of the World Economic Forum. "I am slated to meet other leaders at a forum in June at Vancouver where we would discuss our respective country's problems and how the youth can contribute to the well-being."

Rang De Basanti, revisited?


Regards,

Shah Navas


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