The wordsmith

Three months in Mumbai and couple of weeks back home in Chandigarh later,Munna finally gave them the songs they wanted: “the three songs are,Baliye Baliye,Chal Toonpur Chaliye which a rock song,Jeetoge Tum,an inspirational one and the most difficult,the Rubdoot song which took me maximum time to pen,” says Munna. The Rubdoot song,he adds,is a character-driven song,one where Ajay goes to this animated character,Rubdoot to get an instrument. “The song had to follow all that Ajay does to convince this guy to give him the instrument. See,usually,storyboards in films,especially like these,are water-tight. As a lyricist,they want you to work within that frame whereas when I wrote this song,things fell differently,and ultimately,they had to change the song’s storyboard in this case.”

Hummable,in sync,melodious,not too heavy…Munna had to keep in mind all the pointers. “Being an animation,the film has to appeal to children so the words had to be hummable,simple,yet not too kiddish or childish,I had to maintain a fine balance and make sure it didn’t sound too immature or too philosophical.” Fortunately,all those years working with and for children’s theatre came to Munna’s rescue and his songs got a green signal. “It’s taken me time but I have finally made my identity in Mumbai…let’s hope there is more work after this,” he signs off.