Pyaar is an overused word

Talking about Kaminey,the word is an abuse but how did you make it sound like a caress in the title track?
The word kaminey is not a bad word per se,it is also a word of affection. For example,when a mother tells her son,Tu bada kamina ho gaya hai,saat mahine se milne nahin aaya apni maa se. It turns bad when you hear the villain mouthing it and adding a kutte to it. In that sense,kutte kaminey is a gaali. Ive been using the word kaminey with my friends for years. The other day,Omji Puri had come over for tea and just when he was leaving,he told me,This time Im going back disappointed. I asked him the reason and he said,Ek ghante se baitha hoon aur ek baar bhi aap ne kaminey nahin kaha. Mazaa nahin aaya. Its just that this affectionate shade of the word has not been used in poetry till date which is why everyone is making a big deal about it.

Do compliments about your work still matter to you?
They do. They have to. Finally its all about communication. An artiste needs that kind of a reassurance from his audience. If you dont get it,it means that you are not reaching them. Since Im not creating the words and only using the ones that are around,its always an effort to bring forward the words that have been left behind. And you need to know if these words are connecting with the people. That is the only way to revive language. When I used the word Chaiyya Chaiyya in Dil Se,it was considered new but the word is used quite colloquially in Punjab. And when people took to it,it gave me immense satisfaction.

Do you have any favourite words or expressions that you always end up using?
Thats a constant battle. I am always pushing back the words that come instantly to my mind. Its especially tough when you have to rhyme in a song as the words that come to mind are very common. For instance,if you use the word deewana in a song,then youre likely to rhyme it with parwana or mastana but you have to fight hard not to use these common words and so you come up with rozana. Only when you push the common words behind can the new words come ahead. Like the word pyaar,for instance; it has been overused. Ab pyaar shabd mein kuch nahin hai so you try and bring back the words of the 1940s and substitute it with mohabbat or ulfat.

Of late,youve been using the word bosa and peela a lot.
Yes,they have been appearing a lot. Peeli hasi and peeli dhoop started with Saathiya but now I notice that Ive been spreading too much of basant around. Now Ill consciously push these words back. Ill always remain partial to some images though like sunsets and eyes.

Do you write every day?
I do sit in my study every day but I dont follow a daily writing routine. I read four to five books at a time and I like researching,which is also work.
Recently,I researched a lot on Chamba. I had to participate in a seminar at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Shimla,of which Im a lifetime member. The topic was songs of Chamba. So,I read about and even roamed around in Chamba for a week to get the feel of the folk songs. This kind of work is very enchanting. While I may not be writing,Im collecting moments which I have to write when I come back. In that sense,Im always working.

Have you ever had writers block?
Too many times. When I have a block,I dont do anything about it. I rest into that emptiness. Even composers and painters have a block. Its nothing to get unsettled about because every creative process has to have breathing space.

Which other lyricists work do you enjoy?
I greatly admire the works of D.N.Madhok,Kedar Sharma,Sahir Ludhianvi,Pandit Pradeep and Shailendra. In my opinion,Shailendra,the poet of the masses,is the biggest and the best lyricist our industry has seen.

Do you like any of todays lyricists?
Aaj kal toh log sirf Dhan Te Nan likh ke chal dete hain aur woh main likhta hoon laughs. If you look at the anatomy of songs then its always the tune that you notice first and then the words. But in the case of Pandit Pradeep and Sahir Ludhianvi,one always noticed the words before the tune. They were the real masters.

Out of your own work,which are your favourite songs?
I have a few. I like Phirse aaiyo badra from Namkeen,Mera kuch saaman from Ijaazat and the songs from Ghar. I also think I wrote very well for No Smoking but my words were drowned in too much noise and bad mixing.

Youve always said that you miss RD Burman a lot. Do you miss him as a composer or as a friend?
Undoubtedly as a friend. Work came later. Woh kehte hain na… maine jawaani baanti thi uske saath. RD and I met during our struggling days. I was an assistant to Bimal Roy and he was assisting his father,SD Burman. Our growth was parallel and we shared the best moments. Thanks to RD,I have a big punji of moments.

Is there any actor that you miss?
Sanjeev Kumar. The only other person who could replace him is Naseeruddin Shah. They have similar attitudes. They dont consider themselves stars and have genuine passion for acting.

When will you direct a film?
Smiles Zaroori hai? I dont know. There is so much more to do and I dont have so many years left. Somewhere one has to prioritise. I may have not made a film for the theatres but Ive been filming. I just completed 15 hours of filming Munshi Premchands work for Doordarshan. Now Im getting ready to film 15 hours of Tagores work. Tagore is the reason I learnt Bengali.

Since when have you been wearing white kurta-pyjama?
Ive been wearing white since my college days. The colour pleases me. As for the kurta-pyjama,that happened gradually. Its an effort to keep them spotless. I keep on spilling tea on them.

How come your Oscar is not here in your study?
Smiles Its in my upstairs study. I had kept it here but it used to disturb my visitors. People wanted to touch it and talk about it. Half an hour would go in all this so I decided to keep it away.