Subhash Ghai turns 70, reveals another talent

On his 70th birthday on Saturday, writer-filmmaker Subhash Ghai, credited with movies Karz, Hero, Karma, Saudagar, Khalnayak, Pardes and Taal, has spoken fondly of his lesser known talent as a lyricist.

He says penning poetry comes from the experience of writing scripts and dialogues for films.

“Actually, as a writer I wrote the story of the film [Yaadein], script and the dialogues. When a dialogue writer writes the script, automatically the poetry comes from dialogues. When words [are] strung together, you can create poetry from dialogues,” Ghai said during a radio interview.

Ghai not only wrote the dialogues for Jogger’s Park (2003), but also the lyrics of some of the songs in the film. However, he doesn’t consider himself a professional writer.

“During filming of Jogger’s Park, when Bakshi sahab was not around, the songs were written by three to four writers... So whenever a song’s tune was made, I would immediately pen down some lyrics. So for example, the songs Jogger’s Park, Kabhi Pa Liya To Kabhi Kho Diya and Khelenge Khelenge [Iqbal] were written by me,” he said.

“There were no ego hassles involved... I wrote the mukhra [intro] for many songs, while he would write the antara [stanza]... Because these were written in the story itself, so the songs made sense. I am not a professional writer,” he added.

The filmmaker says his love for writing dates back to 1955. “I was about 12 years [old] then. So the first piece I wrote was an essay for my school magazine. Then I wrote a story, plays and then in college I started writing my own stories, directing and even acting in them by then. I loved writing and reading stories, I used to read a lot of them.

“Because of that till date, if someone gives me a brief of few lines, I will be able to either make a mukhra out of it, or an entire scene out of it with dialogues. If you write for that long, then you inculcate the skill of writing too. Even when I watch movies of others, I concentrate on the writing and story,” he said.

Ghai feels although films are a visual medium, if written well, their true beauty comes out. Citing the example of Aamir Khan film PK, he said: “Movies like PK, not just their story but their characters are beautifully etched out too. Movies work and credit must go to writers because they bring the story to life.”