Man of many moods

Says Bhattacharya when we mention it,Yes,I assisted Pritamda,who was the first to encourage me,when I came to Mumbai over a decade ago. He might not have noticed it regularly enough to remember that I would also write small scratches and dummy words for him! I remember his expressing surprise at the fact that I was a lyrics writer who now had some hits to his credit! But once that happened,Pritam did give me songs I have written Babubhai mast hai from Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and Pyar lo,pyar do and Pyar mein in his Thank You.

Bhattacharya has a diploma in classical music,but is largely a self-taught singer who has listened a lot to Hindi film music across all eras. Even as a lyricist,I have had no background of literature. I was born in Mumbai since my mother is from here,my father is from Delhi and I have spent my formative years in Lucknow,which explains why a Bengali like me is good in Hindi and Urdu! A place like Lucknow is about good and purer Hindi and living there also gives insights into Hindi dialects and Urdu, he says.

And has he abandoned all ambitions in singing? Says the lyricist candidly,Well,I have little time nowadays. I had to turn down an important assignment as lyricist with Ram Sampath recently because of my existing commitments. But I sang and wrote the original version of Iktara (Wake Up Sid) and rendered Mitra in Band Baaja Baaraat with Salim Merchant. I have sung a solo in the movie Fast Forward and contributed my voice to songs in Admissions Open and Udaan and the male portions of Loser in Housefull,which was one of the two songs I wrote for that film. Of course,the other song that I wrote,Pappa jag jaayega was far more popular.

The lyrics writing chapter in Bhattacharyas career began when his good friend,music director Amartya Rahut (who has done Aagey Se Right and many televsion serials) introduced him to Amit Trivedi. At that point of time,almost 10 years ago,we were all strugglers,and today we are very close friends, says the lyricist. Both Amartya and Amit kept telling me that I write well because I tried writing some songs for them when they had a band called The Fusion Band and had done their first album Om -The Fusion Band. But I was a bit wary as my ambitions lay in a different zone. Later I did some work with Amartya on his serials and Amit had begun work on Dev D,for which I ended up writing eight songs including Emosonal atyachar,Nayan tarse,Duniya,Aankh micholi and Saali khushi.

Amit then called him for the lyrics of Aamir as stating that he was very comfortable with him and that Bhattacharya was the only writer he knew well. And so the 2008 Aamir was his first release. But things began to move only after Dev D, admits Bhattacharya,who soon signed Udaan and his first lot of films that also included Housefull,No One Killed Jessica and Band Baaja Baaraat.

Bhattacharya firmly believes that all creative artistes are born. Training at best polishes an art. I have never read extensive poetry,philosophy etc. I would say that its all about the people you get to meet,the opportunities that come,and the environment. I owe my career to all the people who knowingly and unknowingly helped discover the lyricist within me, he stresses.

Because of the comfort level he shares with him and Amit getting busier, Bhattacharya has done more films with Amit than anyone else, the latest being I AM.

We move to another aspect: why does Bhattacharya write so many dark lyrics? Is it a personal preference?

Says Bhattacharya,I think that the situation for a song decides that. Somehow,films like Aamir,Dev D,…Jessica or I AM have been coincidentally films that needed such songs. But Luv Ka The End was a complete comedy. The songs I wrote in Thank You,Housefull and Band Baaja Baaraat have been absolutely mainstream and light. A song like Pyar mein from Thank You was totally conventional. I have also written Tumse hi tumse along with Anvita Dutt Guptan for Anjaana Anjaani. And the songs needed in Udaan were in the inspirational genre and very situational.

Bhattacharya has now completed work on Aamir Khans Delhi Belly with Ram Sampath. There is Salim-Sulaimans Ladies V/S Ricky Bahl for the same team as Band Baaja Baaraat,a film called Stand By Me with Dharma Productions and Amit Trivedi,and Sanjay Leela Bhansalis My Friend Pinto with music by Ajay-Atul. My Character dheela from Ready is also being appreciated right now, says the writer about his latest release.

Is it easy for him to write to a metre or a tune? It all depends on the song, he answers. The situation is what challenges you or makes it easy. For me,the lyrics of Udaan were a challenge. But since I am a singer,when a composer hums out a tune,I catch it faster than a non-singer writer would,and writing generally comes easy. I react better to a tune than while writing by myself. For example,if the tune as well as the drum rolls had not been there,the lines Emosonal atyachar would not have been possible for me.

Having worked with Pritam,Salim-Sulaiman,Amit,Ram Sampath and Ajay-Atul,how is every music director radically different as a person and professional? Bhattacharya plays safe and replies,What is common to all of them is that we are more or less of the same age group,have similar thoughts and ideas on music and cinema,and we like having lots of fun at work! He adds,But all of them are very passionate about what they do!

Asked to mention the most important aspect of a song and of lyrics writing ,Bhattacharya feels that every song should be made relatable to the audience,and not be necessarily about sher-o-shaayari. A definite trend today is the conversational kind of song,with Hindi mixed with English just the way we talk, he says.

He also feels that music or lyrics together should move or touch him,which can be true of a song like Pritam and Irshad Kamils Pee loon from Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai or of some world music song. Among todays lyricists I love Gulzarsaabs work,Prasoon Joshis Rehna tu from Delhi-6 is one of my top favourites and I love Piyush Mishras theater-influenced kind of writing, he says. Otherwise,I also admire the work of all the greats from Sahir and Anand Bakshi to everyone else.

Bhattacharya admits to the pernicious trend in lyrics where too much emphasis placed on phonetics,even if it means using fancy or incomprehensible Urdu words with scant justification. I do agree that this happens because filmmakers demand it, he says.

But good or original thought in songs is rare. So it is nice to hear a song like Issi baat mein from I AM from him. I think that the potential of a situation decides it all. Issi baat mein came out of the radical thought of a woman who wants to be a mother by the means of artificial insemination, he reveals.

Many lyricists today are also scriptwriters. Can we expect him to write scripts now? I dont think so at this moment. I think that all songwriters who write scripts or dialogues must have some kind of a background for it,like cinema or theater.