Smoke and Fire

Cut to 2011,the song inspires the title of the forthcoming Rohan Sippy directed- Abhishek Bachchan starrer in which Deepika Padukone slips into an ultra white-ultra mini and gyrates to music composer Pritam’s version of the hippie classic.

The jury is divided on the season’s latest item scorcher. The rather bold and risqué lyrics penned by the ever dependable Jaideep Sahni (Company,Khosla Ka Ghosla and Chak De! India fame) have raised some eyebrows.

Sample some of the lyrics: Hey phir dekh raha hai… Aaj aankh sekh raha hai,kal haath sekega… Aaj dheel chhod raha hai,kal khud hi rokega… Aaj mere liye chair kheech raha hai,kal meri skirt kheechega… Kheechega ki nahin?… Oonche se ooncha banda… potty pe baithe nanga… Phir kaahe ki society saali,kaahe ka paakhanda… Bheje se kaleje se,kalaje ke kalaje se… Mit jaaye gham,maroge toh jeeyoge… Dum maaro dum … mit jaaye gham… bolo subhah shaam… Hare Krishna Hare Ram.

Sahni defends his work and explains the process of how the lyrics of Mit Jaaye Gham came about as they have: “ These lines are actually taken from a longer piece of rap,written specifically for a situation of drug pushers and users in a drug induced delirium at a rave . The rap form was chosen because it’s very effective in reflecting anti-establishment thought and behaviour,and usage of strong words to make a larger meaning is inherent to the very form. They were selected and placed together with the famous hippie song of the 70s in a directorial decision and vision to bring out the contrast between earlier hippie culture and today’s drug mafia which is vicious and brutal. It’s basically related to the subject of the film and hopefully will be seen in better clarity once the film releases. Otherwise I’m busy with my own scripts and have no interest in making changes in classics,especially by the writer to whom I had dedicated my best lyricist award just last year. I can only conclude that there is a case for a better sharing with the listeners how and why lyrics are written,so they have an opportunity to view works from that perspective. I hope this contributes in that direction. On the issue of covers and remixes,directors in cinema all over the world have been re-interpreting previous works in their films according to the nature of their subjects and individual visions. In my opinion,what’s wrong is not that it’s done,but that after a century of Indian cinema there is still no accepted system to ensure that writers whose lyrics are re-used have a say in it or are paid for it. To my mind that is the matter which is somewhat more important.”