Irshad Kamil, 42, is simple, sensitive with very high self-esteem. He is a man of commitment and a man who has no qualms in acknowledging the work of his contemporaries that he loves, given the highly competitive nature of the business. While he never raises his voice, he is a closed-door rebel that explains many of his lyrics, be it those of the film Rockstar or of a song like Patakha Guddi in Highway. His current song Manwa Laage Re from Happy New Year is extremely popular. His home, in one corner of Lokhandwala, has a lovely vibration and we sit down over a cup of coffee for our interview, where he talks about the childlike Pritam, his intelligent wife Tasveer and his special connection with Imtiaz Ali. Excerpts:

Have you made friends in the industry?
Sandesh, Imtiaz Ali and Pritam are my friends. Pritam is quite like a child, who is so forgetful, so unharmful and so lovely. He is very unapologetic about every action and is a gem. Imtiaz I could now call a chaddi buddy. We know each other from the days of Socha Na Tha, when he was not the star Imtiaz Ali. He is very clear in his vision and knows what he wants. He is very concerned and sincere, very witty and sometimes unpredictable. He is very cool.

The lyricists you look upto?
Sahir Ludhianvi, as I love the way he captured slice-of-life with a tinge of philosophy. Anand Bakshi sahab for his simplicity and yet, how he managed to remain poetic, the folk of Shailendra sahab and the experimentation of languages by Majrooh Sultanpuri sahab.

Who do you love the most in the world? 
My wife Tasveer. She knows me and understands me. We have been married for 12 years. She is from Chandigarh and we did theatre together. What I like most about her is her innocence, her intelligence, her creative mind, her analytical power and her aura. She likes my honesty, my humility and the way I think and approach things in my life.

What are you like?
I am true to the core, very sincere and committed. If I have said yes to something, come what may, I will do it and will put in my 100%. I am very simple. I am extremely sensitive and may sometimes land up opening myself more than needed. My dressing sense is bad and I am a bit lazy. I am also quite stubborn, particularly with myself. I am a very closed-door rebel. But the effect of that is always positive. So if maine apne saath koi zid karli, toh aise hi hoga. So if I have to trouble myself to achieve it, I will. And while I am otherwise stubborn, when it comes to writing lyrics, I am very open. In my childhood, my mother told me one thing that stayed with me. Kids usually come back home from school to complain to their parents, ‘I wrote so well, but still my teacher has deducted my marks.’ I now understand that actually a child uses it as a defence mechanism. I must have been in Class VI when I came back home and told my mom, ‘I wrote so well, but still my teacher took out so many mistakes and has given me only 6 marks out of 10.’ Unlike what I expected, my mother said, ‘If someone points out something wrong, it means that there has to be some problem there. It can’t be smooth.’ What she said then has stayed with me till today.

So whether you are an actor or director or producer or music director, if you have found some fault in what I have written, there has to be some problem with it and before my defence comes up, I first try and understand what the problem is. And if I find that there is a problem, I will change it. But I have a lot of gussa and woh bada solid hai. If I am angry, I will let the other person know that I am very angry without raising my voice. I am very strong and I am my own emotional anchor. And while I am very emotional and sensitive, I am not an emotional fool. I am emotional with only people who value my emotion. I get hurt very easily, but can’t express myself and that is probably my raw material to write. I always say, ‘Pyaar bhi de aur pyaar ke gum bhi de Maula, hum shayar insse hi sher banate hain.’

How did you come into films?

We are Punjabi Muslims and I was born in Malerkotla in Punjab. I did my diploma in journalism from Punjab University, a post graduation in Hindi language followed by a Ph.D in contemporary Hindi poetry. My first job was as a journalist in an English newspaper in Chandigarh, where I covered education and entertainment. I interviewed many stars who came to Chandigarh, including Pooja Bhatt and Manoj Bajpayee. I then worked for a Hindi newspaper as a junior person and would often be asked to check and correct errors in articles written by others. One night, I was in office till 1.30. It was winters and I was riding back on my motorcycle when I thought to myself, ‘Did I ever think that I will do journalism when I grow up? I didn’t want to become Khushwant Singh. Then why am I doing this?’ The next morning, I went to office and resigned. My senior thought maybe I had gone through some emotional atyachaar staying alone in the University and that is why I was leaving. He tried to convince me, but I had decided. While I was doing my Ph.D, I got an offer to teach and again, I asked myself, ‘Am I born to do this? I don’t want to teach.’ And I refused the offer. It was at that time that Lekh Tandon had come to Chandigarh to shoot for TV and was looking for a writer. The joint director of Haryana Cultural Affairs department, Mr Kamal Tiwari sahab, introduced me to him. Mr Lekh Tandon got me to Mumbai and I started writing for TV.

I started getting little money and took up a place to stay on rent. This was 2001. TV involves a lot of labour and while it gives you money, there is no creativity involved. Mentally, I would feel very low and I would tell myself, ‘I didn’t come here to do this.’ I had started feeling angry with myself that whatever I do, I keep thinking, am I born to do this. I would ask myself, ‘Tum kya karne ke liye bane ho yaar?’ But right from my childhood, I wanted to be a lyricist and I would tell my friends, ‘Geet likhne jaa raha hoon.’ My friends would like my work and it became my dream to become a lyricist. After quitting TV, I met music director Sandesh who was working on Socha Na Tha and through him, I met Imtiaz Ali. We hit it off really well right from day one and he asked me to write the lyrics of Socha Na Tha. Even though I first worked on Socha Na Tha, my first film to be released was Sudhir Mishra’s Chameli. I struggled a lot till 2007 when Jab We Met happened and I got my first Filmfare award for Ajj Din Chadheya in Love Aaj Kal. I never looked back after that.

You have done all Imtiaz’s films and your best work is with him. Is there a reason for that?

Imtiaz has a lot of faith in me and when someone trusts you like that, you want to give everything to it. I can’t let him down and I have to give back the trust he has entrusted in me.

How does it feel when someone comes and tells you to write an item song?
I find it very difficult. Because when someone comes saying, ‘Please write an item song like this,’ I know that in reality, he can write the song himself what he is asking me to write. They start telling you the lines and that becomes even more difficult.

Given that you were such a rebel, was there someone in your family who understood you?
Only my mother whom I lost in 2010. I loved her too much and I have started a scholarship on her name, Begum Iqbal Bano, after she died. She was the only person with whom I could discuss anything about my life, I could fight with her, I could get annoyed with her, and could take anger of somewhere else on her. Her going away was a loss to me. You expect your mother to take it. And the beauty is that you know that you are not being fair to her, but she still does not make you feel that aap zyasti kar rahe ho. She knew me internally. I was the youngest child, but looking at me, she knew I was different and a rebel. I remember when I left my job as a journalist, I did not tell or discuss with anyone at home before or after leaving my job. I did not do anything in my life after discussing with anyone, whatever I did, I took the decision first and then told everyone. Then after a few days, someone from home had called my office and found out that I had quit the job a fortnight back. I went home by which time my entire family knew and there was a full battalion waiting to ask me questions. My mother said nothing to me. I later asked her why she had said nothing to me. And she very casually said, ‘Maine socha if you have left your job, you must have thought of something. Tu kaunsa bewakoof hai.’ It was a very innocent statement, but I know that she had a lot of confidence in me.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Hindi> Music / by Priya Gupta, TNN / October 22nd, 2014

After Chashme Buddoor, director Sai Paranjpe’s another cult film Katha is all set to be remade.

Anjum Rizvi has brought Sai Paranjpe and critic-filmmaker-author Khalid Mohamed together for the project. The film, directed by Khalid under Sai’s guidance will be moulded to suit 2015.

Anjum plans to stick to the essence of the original film in order to remain true to Sai’s original vision. “We don’t intend to play around with the story or commercialise it. It will be true to its tortoise and hare story line,” he told a leading newspaper.

“Sai is Khalid’s friend and when he sounded her out she was very keen, though she made it clear that she would not direct the film. The story, screenplay and dialogue are by Sai and updated by Khalid,” he added.

The film is expected to roll in December and the casting is on. The original Katha featured Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh and Deepti Naval.

source: http: //www.indiatoday.intoday.in / IndiaToday.in / Home> Movies / October 16th, 2014

Sufi music

Mukhtiar Ali, who is the 26th generation Sufi singer from Rajasthan belonging to the Mirasi community, insists that Sufi kalam is about looking for Him — evoking Him who is present within ‘us’.

His rendition of ‘Kabeer khada bazaar mein, maange sabki khair…’ sure worked wonders on a few hundred souls gathered at Vanaranga in Mysore recently. Evoking the mysticism and deep sense of spirituality which are the essential elements of Sufi music, Mukhtiar Ali filled every bit of space. His voice alternating between honeyed and lilting tones, soothed many a hearts and filled them with love and deep sense of total surrender.

Mukhtiar Ali, who is the 26th generation Sufi singer from Rajasthan belonging to the Mirasi community, insists that Sufi kalam is about looking for Him — evoking Him who is present within ‘us’. Living in the hot and arid Pugal in Rajasthan, Mukhtiar has been witness to many contradictory shades in the world of music. Much like the music he sings, his talks too, are not devoid of hidden meanings.

“Bahut dekh liye. Par abhi bahut kuch dekhna baaki hai (I have much, but there is a lot left to see),” he says when asked about whether Sufi music is ‘back’ for good. After the success of ‘Had – Unhad’ — a documentary film made by Shabnam Virmani that shot him to fame; Ali has seen a lot of ‘shift’ in attitude in his own community. Ali admits Sufi was not his first love, but will surely remain his only love. “I tried my hands at agriculture, tailoring, weaving, and worked with Urmul Trust for few years before finally turning towards Sufi,” he says.

The carrier of an oral tradition, with no written notes to refer to; or formal documentation of learning process of Sufi music, Mukhtiar slips into notes with ease. Has it ever unnerved him before others? No, he says. Recollecting his experience with formally trained musicians, Mukhtiar says he was in Chennai recently to attend a mega music festival. Musicians from various disciplines had gathered for the same. There was a 10-day rehearsal as a run-up to the final recording and everyone was “counting something” at their finger tips and asked Mukhtiar to do the same, as he was to join them at the middle note of the song. He was nervous initially and then gathered enough courage to tell them “Bhayya, aap gao. I will catch the note perfectly alright, wherever I am to join you. But, don’t ask me to do this counting. I have never done it all my life!” After that, it was a smooth sailing for Ali who recorded well on the final day, while most others had lost their energy owing to the 10-day rehearsals!

Expressing his discomfort over closed spaces, Mukhtiar feels he sings the best when he is ‘with’ people. “I love open air theatres or informal gatherings. I feel euphoric when people egg me on. I am the best Meera, or Radha they would have heard. I surrender totally when I sing for people… like a woman who sings for her lover. ‘He’ is my focus and I look for Him in the gathering. Get me into an airconditioned, sound-proofed studio, I am a restless soul who is at his worst fidgety self,” he says.

Have the generations of singing eroded Sufi of its essence? Do they still sing Bulle Shah with as much dedication? “Bulle Shah is still the same. He still churns your stomach when you listen to anyone sing his kalaam. But the contemporary Sufiana Kalam (Sufi songs) has no ‘dum’. You don’t feel a thing when you sing them,” he reveals. How does he best describe the contemporary Sufi writing then? Pat comes the reply: “Clever play of words, but minus the essential essence.
“Bollywood has ‘used’  Sufi, often, to cater to the taste of its audience. Everything is diluted and coloured suitably to be served to them. At the same time, we cannot refute the fact that Bollywood has been the best vehicle Sufi music has found to reach the masses. ‘Dama Dam Mast Kalandar’ is as necessary today in concerts as is ‘Kabir Khada Bazaar Mein, Maange Sabki Khair’…. We cannot deny this,” he observes.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sunday Herald Art & Culture / by Preethi Nagaraj / January 09th, 2010