December 26, 2009

Random notes

I am student of literature and film and TV writing is no different. The difference between film n TV writing and literature is that in TV-Films stories are written in common man’s language keeping the common man in mind and in literature, particularly contemporary literature talks about common man but not in common man’s language or verb. This is also written in one of the chapters on my Ph.D thesis. “Samkaleen Hindi Kavita Mein Samay Aur Samaj” was my topic in which I defined that present is nothing but a very thin line between past and future.

Things, thoughts and themes keep on changing with time. It is a common statement these days that “ab pehle jaise gaane nahin rahe”. I agree but I want to add in this statement that pehle jaisa insaan kahan raha hai, pehle jaisi soch kahan rahi hai, pehle jaisi society kaha rahi hai?” There was a time when we had leaders like Nehru, Shastri n Gandhi. There was a time when we had Dhyan Chand, Aslam Sherkhan, Dhanraj Pilley in Indian hockey team. There was a time when we had natural actors like Moti Lal, Dilip Kumar n Balraj Sahni, they never bothered about their six pecks, here, what I am trying to say that it depends upon societies taste, and every art form is mirror of society. A society produced Bedi, Manto n Abbas, the other society is producing todays writers. And I am sure the next generation will give same type of statement to their contemporary writers. No writer is good or bad but readers or viewer’s choice n taste makes them so.

I feel gap between literature and cinema should be bridged somewhere. And yes this can be done easily, gap can be bridged and in some cases film makers are already doing that. Films like Tare Zameen Par, Khuda ke Liye, Praneeta and Teen Patti or 3 Idiots, Firaaq are examples.

And any type of writing or involvement is a full time job.  Even Lyrics writing is full time job for those who believes in

“gazal mein badish-o-alfaaz he nahin kaafi,

Jigar ka khoon bhi kuchh chahiye asar ke liye”.

A soulful lyric needs devotion n dedication of writer.

Still I think that few things more are needed for good writing. First of all, the sense of differentiation between good and bad writing is must. The sense of new n changing trends of society is also required. The deep understanding of human psychology and knowledge of language in which you want to write are few basic tools a writer needs. Above all a writer needs heart and mind in place.

As here I have to talk about myself, I am a very previllaged guy as far as language is concerned. I am from muslim family and our cultures language is Urdu, I belong to Punjab so my native society’s language is Punjabi and I did Ph. D in Hindi. And one language more society still trying to teach me, that is English. I know I am very bad student of that language.

Although a writer is writer but personally I like lyrics writing then dialogue writing and then script or screenplay writing. This order is in that case if I am not writing the whole film.

I always love to work with with every director and music director who has passion for his work. As a student of literature I like Nirala, Shamsher  Bahadur singh, Dushyant kumar, Kumar Ambuj, uday prakash in Hindi, Galib, Mir, Faiz, firaaq, basher badr, Wasim Barailvi in Urdu and I like Wordsworth, Keats, Yeats, John Donne, Edmund Spencer and I also like Rasul Hamzatov, Nazim hikmat n Kajuko also. Basically I like every writer in every language who does not write with pen but heart.

In my spare time I want to read anything which attracts. Sometimes Trends, Faces n Actions of people beside books.

For me Success is nothing but appreciation of your hard work by God and people in general. No one thought that Jab We Met or Love Aaj Kal or Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani will be successful ventures. But yes the process of making them was enjoyed by me n all involved and that’s the only key to success.

“Shohrat ki bulandi to pal bhar ka tamasha hai,

Jis shaakh pe baithe hain vo toot bhi sakti hai.”

I also feel that Lyrics writers are getting better dues then screenplay or dialogue writers in terms of credit [but not in terms of cash]. Because only lyricists find place on posters and script writers hardly find that place. Any film buff can name 5 lyricists but no one can name 5 script writers.

I tried to direct 3 small films also just because I want to help some road side school for poor children and after a thought I decided to make some short movies for them involving them and make a DVD and sell it in foreign market. One of my friend settled in US helped me in selling. Because I was putting in money so budgets was not enough to hire a good or even bad director. So I directed myself. My friend sold around 5 thousand DVD’s in US to raise money for those poor children.

When I was doing this I wrote:

“Do chaar nahin dus bees nahin

Ab poori khalkat bolegi

Ab chhod munafa laalach ka

Bebaak mohabbat bolegi

Tera pyar nafa

Tera pyar sila…

Chal Haath Mila.

5 responses to “Random notes”

  1. Vahab says:

    Irshad sahab. I agree to everything you have said. We stay on the same page. Live is so short thinking too much about the future often takes away happiness from you.

    Log to badalte hain magar rooh to wahin hai na, aur lafzo mein woh kabliyat hai ke pathardil bhi mom hojaye. Aap jaise insaan jab tak hamare beech hain, dhadkte dil hameesha mehzooz hotey rahenge. Apne lafzo se hamare daman bharte rahiye jab tak dam mein dam hai.

  2. parminder kumar says:

    Wow!…great to see your website…I hope now there will be poems recited by you also…

  3. Sum Neesha says:

    Ya this is my interest page..Becoz i know,listen n write poetry.. Yeh silsila hai sadiyon ka. Koi aaj ki baat nahi hai.. In poetry section i must tell that with those poetry phrases on nature or on other topics there must be a corner of critics too.. Like in adhunik, samkaleen, puratan kavi… Gud to know about literature n poetry more…

  4. Rutuja says:

    Irshadji, thanks so much for starting this blog…it is very nice

    —- this one is great and inspiring…very nice to know more about u

    & really its gr8 pleasure and pride to be ur fan ji 🙂

  5. shifa says:

    so well written, totally from the heart. That’s what makes you stand apart from the rest. This blog will also grow to be a great tool, not just for your fans, but for aspiring writers as well.
    I know, it may seem out of turn, but have some suggestions that I would like to share. I think this site needs to reflect your personality a lot more. Need to give a peek into your rustic, Indian roots and at the same time have links to some of youur favourite writers. Could also have the lyrics of all the film songs you have written. give us a peek into your non film writing as well, which I know is awesome. That, I feel, would make this a more wholesome experience for your fans.

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