He is one of the most original storytellers and musicians in the film industry and now Vishal Bhardwaj is branching out by bringing his own book of poems
He is one of the most original storytellers and musicians in the film industry and now Vishal Bhardwaj is branching out by bringing his own book of poems. The filmmaker's songs almost always written by lyricist Gulzar are known to be lyrically rich and he himself is considered to be a closet poet. However, Bhardwaj states he never wrote the lyrics for his compositions not because of any "apprehension"âÂu00c2u0080Âu00c2u0088but because he considers poetry and writing lyrics two different art forms.
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Vishal Bhardwaj
Bhardwaj says, "I take poetry as a different art form. I keep my poetry very pure. In fact, on December 17, my book of poems will be out. I am excited for that. I've been working on it for a long time. The Haider (2014) filmmaker originally wanted to be a music composer and made his debut as a music director with the children's film Abhay (The Fearless) in 1995.
He then received wider recognition with his compositions for Gulzar's Maachis (1996) and Ram Gopal Varma's Satya (1998). Bhardwaj says his initial years as a music composer in Bollywood were not that great."They were not bright days because barring a few films in the late '90s, when I came, the standard of storytelling was poor. There were not many innovative storytellers, except for people like Gulzar saab and Ram GopalVarma."
He adds that the films in the '90s had fixed song situations. "That was the reason I started feeling bored with my own work. Hence, I became a director." The 52-year-old filmmaker is currently excited about the new season of MTV Unplugged. The platform on the show, according to Bhardwaj, is liberating as it gives one enough space to play around with his own compositions and create new stuff, unlike the early phase in his career.
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