Aamir , Javed Akhtar showdown.. - Page 5

If a film song's a hit, thank the actor more than the lyricist. Thus spake Aamir Khan and, please, let's not bash him for straight talking. A song may be prize-winning poetry. But song-writers must face an unpoetic truth: film stars play a mammoth role in popularising their work. Sure, without a lyricist's talent as a point of departure, melodies won't get made. But surely there's a point of arrival as well: a song's just one prop in a larger film production. It's created to be picturised. So, as cinematic experience, it's delivered to moviegoers by the on-screen performer. Even great music composers and playback singers many of whom are divas have learned to live with that.

Indians have great regard for lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Gulzar or Javed Akhtar. But give a face to the age-defying power of Bollywood music, and song-writers won't score over actors. Play the music of films like Mera Naam Joker, Teesri Manzil or Kati Patang, and we'll recall a tragic-comic Raj Kapoor, a jiving Shammi Kapoor and a serenading Rajesh Khanna. Would most of us remember who wrote the songs? Forget it. Think of cult tracks like Pyar kiya to darna kya or Dum maro dum. Do we associate them with pen-wielders or heroines as distanced in time as Madhubala and Zeenat Aman? Could Rang Barse become a craze without the Big B's high-on-Holi act? Did a song-writer get audiences hip-shaking to Ek-Do-Teen, or was it Madhuri? True, soundtracks can strike gold even if films flop. But lyricists must thank composers and singers here as well rather than hog credit.

Let's face it. Bollywood's driven by star power. Actors followed by directors carry films on their shoulders. If they get bouquets for success, they also get brickbats for failure. A lyricist, with his limited but risk-proof brief, doesn't have to carry this burden. He can certainly want fame, recognition, fat paychecks, royalties, etc. But at showtime, he shouldn't try to jostle for space under the arc lights with a Shah Rukh or an Aishwarya. If he has ego hassles about that, he should say bye-bye to Bollywood.