Tune overpowers the lyrics, feels legendary lyricist Gulzar

TIL Desk Bollywood/ It was a rare victory when wordsmith Gulzar and composer AR Rahman were awarded the Best Original Song Oscar for Jai ho from the film Slumdog Millionaire. After 10 years of the special moment, the legendary lyricist says a song is remembered mainly for its tune and not for its words.

On the relation of lyrics and melody, Gulzar told: “Look, when a song becomes a hit, it happens because of its tune and melody, and not for the lyrics in the first place. There are many songs that have become popular and people sing along with it without knowing the meaning of its lyrics.

“So in a song, the recall value comes from its musical composition and not lyrics.” Citing an example of a cult classic by Lata Mangeshkar, Gulzar said: “You remember the song Zeehale Muskin Makun Ba-Ranjish (from J.P. Dutta’s 1985 film Ghulami. It was in Farsi and nobody asked for the meaning of the lyrics. But the song was celebrated.”