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| A still from 'Life in a Metro' |
While studying editing at FTII, Amitabh Verma made friends with music director Pritam, then a batch-mate of his. Little did he know then that Pritam – and their admiration for R D Burman – would be instrumental in him becoming a lyricist.
After working as an editor for five years, Amitabh wrote lyrics that were much appreciated – including ‘Le Chalein’ for My Brother Nikhil and ‘Alvida’ (Life in a Metro). Presently working on under-production films being helmed by Manmohan Shetty and Rajat Kapoor, the lyricist spoke to us about the challenges a lyricist faces, some of his bitter experiences in the industry, and why he’d like to work for Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
What sort of khichdi were you asked to make for your last project, Love Khichdi, by director Srinivas Bhashyam?
Love Khichdi is about a confused person who can’t zero in on his dream girl. The character thinks every girl around is in love with him. And that was my brief. The movie was to have only one song, ‘Yo Baby’, in which the names of all seven girls are mentioned – Sharmishta, Deepti, Parminder, Shanta Bheemrao, Nafisa, Susan and Sandhya.
How did get started as a writer?
I trained as an editor from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)and came to Mumbai to work as an editor. I did this for five years and edited a few films, none of which were released. I edited serials as well, including one called Shaheen, for which I also wrote the title track. Then I wrote an album for Bhupen Hazarika. Work started coming in and my first film was My Brother Nikhil for Onir, who had produced the Bhupen Hazarika album. I wrote all the songs and dialogues for that movie.
Were you fond of writing since childhood?
Not at all. Writing happened to me only because of music director Pritam. He was my batch mate at FTII. We are RD Burman fans. One day, he came to me with some songs he had composed in Bengali asking if I could translate them. I am from Bihar and so it wasn't difficult for me. Until then, I hadn't written a word.
Were those songs every used in an album?
In the album Arya produced by Onir, one song called ‘Bolo’ has been used. In Life in a Metro, Pritam used ‘Alvida’, which was written by me. It was written 10 years ago but the moment Anurag Basu heard it, he said 'Yahi gaana chahiye tha'.
Who helped you establish a foothold into the industry?
As a lyricist, I would say Onir.
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