SEPTEMBER 21: The formula that all the peace-loving songs ever written embraced just went Indian with The Price of Bullets, a Kargil-inspired music video performed by rock group Pentagram, featuring Javed Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan. But even as MTV splashes the song into its pool of programmes, its competitor Channel [V], reportedly unwilling to attract controversy, has frozen it out.``There is nothing wrong with the song's video or lyrics. It is an anti-war song that is just trying to highlight the simple message that war sucks,'' says Pentagram's lead singer Vishal Dadlani, who conceived of the song at the height of the Indo-Pak conflict this year. Upset over Channel [V]'s reluctance, Dadlani remarks: ``Though I have still not received an official refusal from [V], the channel has already hinted that it will not be telecast as they feel that the subject is controversial. How can peace be controversial?''The three-and-half minute video, which was featured in the international rock magazine RollingStones, has been produced on a no profit-no loss basis and can be downloaded from the Internet site topwritecorner.com.Explaining the concept behind the song, Dadlani said: ``We were all praising our brave soldiers who were indeed fighting heroically. But then, I wondered how Pakistani soldiers are different from Indians. There are orphans and widows on both sides of the border. Looking at the situation through this humanist lens, I contacted Shankar and the video took flight with a special poetic input from Javed Akhtar.''The video has been directed by Akhtar's children, Farhan and Zoya. ``Shot in a single day in June, the video is lyric-heavy and boldly flashes words like War, Hate, Disgrace and Regret. There is no visual depiction of violence and the video shows a couple of hovering choppers and marching soldiers. So what objections does Channel [V] have,'' wonders Farhan Akhtar (25).Channel [V] spokesperson refused to comment to Express Newsline though sources in the music industry say it isa policy decision as [V] has its own criterion for airing songs, like video/audio quality, lyrics, and whether it fits the profile of its audience.On the flip side, MTV director programming, Kalyanasundaram KS quips, ``Since the song is for a cause we have no objections to its airing. It also has meaningful lyrics and a nice video.'' Though Kargil is not mentioned in the song, Dadlani admits that the lyrics do hint at peace between India and Pakistan. ``The opening lyrics say Don't kill your fellow man/ over a piece of land/ try to understand/ that's what they want you to do.. The `they' are external forces that are propelling the two countries towards war so that the drugs and gun-running can carry on,'' says the rocker.
