It’s only words...

It's the age of DK Bose, Character Dheela, Jalebi Bai and Mutton song. In times, when lyricists are breaking all norms of conventional shayari, lyricist Javed Akhtar talks to CS about new age lyrics, myths about poets and his love for sports

It's only words...

Of old and new
Yes, there's an influx of new words in our songs. But it is not that the words have been newly discovered. It's just that they weren't considered respectable in the usage of poetry. Either these words have gained acceptance or the average standard of writing has lowered. But let me tell you, I'm not critiquing their usage, to each his own. India has produced some of the world's most popular lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi and so on, so there's lot that we can expect from the new talents too.

Poetic inspiration
Let me tell you that it is a pure myth that poets look at the moonlight or flowers for inspiration to pen down words. You're a journalist and you have to sit on an unbearably hot afternoon to submit a story. It happens with us too. The second myth is that today's emerging lyricists or musicians belong to different professions. Well in India, for a very long time artists were not given the recognition they deserved. Poetry wasn't enough to survive. Most of the famous writers have been doctors, professors in universities, etc. Now times are changing, so we have among us a computer engineer as a brilliant musicianu00a0- Shankar Mahadevan. People like him are courageous enough to put aside their salaried jobs on the back burner and pursue their passion.

Telly time
I'm a big sports lover and I follow cricket passionately. Recently, I was at the Wimbledon to witness both the finals. I was lucky enough to get good seats and so had a blast seeing the games unfold before my eyes. Even at home my TV set is tuned into a sports channel or animal or history knowledge channel. I don't ever watch soaps as I just don't like the format. Why should I wait till the next day or week to know what will happen in a story that has gotten me interested? Instead I prefer watching news or some political discussion.