Kausar Munir: Could have taken 4 days, or 44 years to write a song

Kausar Munir, lyricist of Taapsee Pannu-starrer Rashmi Rocket, asserts that experiences dating back several decades could serve as inspiration for music

Synonymous to a skilfully rendered song for a music aficionado, Kausar Munir’s assorted play on words when participating in this interview could be delightful for any writer to consume. Case in point being the parallels she draws between her experience of working on Rashmi Rocket and a scene of a relay race involving leading lady Taapsee Pannu. “The [makers] hired us for the film, gave us the brief, and left us to do our job. There was no hand-holding involved. We worked on it, and let Taapsee take over. So it felt like [a baton] that was being passed on from them, to us, and then to Taapsee. It was all a beautiful teamwork,” says the lyricist of the film, which was composed by Amit Trivedi.

Trivedi and Munir’s winning team has delivered many a successful soundtrack, including her prominent work, Ishaqzaade (2012). She is swayed by the composer’s earnestness towards both, his work and his life. “He was like my partner on the crease. He is a man of great integrity, and originality. He isn’t among those who will open a programming software on his computer, or sit at a place and say, ‘Let’s get inspired’. He is wired into the script, and everything, right from the way [the songs] will sound, to how they will be sung, is his brainchild. That’s why it’s nice to collaborate with him.”

For this offering, the team was put up at a Goan five-star hotel, where they “worked from 10 am to 6 pm” and partied thereafter. “When you are away from the studio, and the family, you can disconnect and train your attention to the work at hand. Often, [he would] arrive at the melody and ask me to create [the lyrics]. For the track Ghani cool, I came up with the melody and requested him to create something specific. The process is always better when you jam together. If I was working on something, I could easily knock at his door and ask him about it, and he was available to respond. That can’t happen if you’re in the same city and working together only for a couple of hours.”

How did the listless ambience of Goa enable them to deliver a soundtrack that hinges on urgency and inspiration? “While working, everything has to come from within you. External spaces do not matter. All your life experiences can be funnelled into one single song, if the situation is reminiscent. People often ask me how long I took to write a particular song. And the answer is that I don’t know. I could have taken four days, or 44 years.” 

The duo prioritised making each track sound different from the other. While she could condense the crux of the film to one word — identity, she says the soundtrack had to sound diverse. “Ghani cool is a party song, Zindagi tere naam is a romantic track, and Zidd is indicative of the rise and fall that we face. I had a blast while playing with the words ‘run’ on which this film is based, and ‘Runn’ from the Runn of Kutch [where a portion is shot],” she signs off.

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