AM Turaz: In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's songs, the lyrics shine

Sanjay Leela Bhansalirsquos Heeramandi The Diamond Bazaar marks lyricist AM Turazrsquos sixth collaboration with the director after past hits like Bajirao Mastani and Gangubai Kathiawadi In this interview he discusses creating music that did justice to the plot and why the veteran director keeps turning to him to create magic with wordsEdited excerpts of the interviewWhy do you believe your association with Bhansali has been such a successful oneWhatever magic exists in our work it is because of him He respects good writing and is passionate I have learned a lot from him He brings out the best in me The kind of work that I can produce with him is one that I cannot with any other filmmaker because he respects a creator Usually a film eventually seems to belong to the actor alone Sure an actor is the filmrsquos face but the other creators need to be respected so that we are motivated to keep producing better workI am thankful to him for giving me good opportunities If you notice his songs yoursquoll see that the lyrics are the stars People say that the kind of lyrics wersquove written in Heeramandi are not the type people like to hear But thatrsquos not true There is a large audience for each kind of musicBhansali has previously said that he creates his films while also thinking about the music We knew we were exploring an era that was far different from ours We had to work on creating poetry that did justice to it For instance if you consider the song Saiyaan hatto jaao it resembles the kind of flirtatious interaction that people had in that era We also had to create poetry that did justice to a character who enjoyed shayriWhat was the kind of research that you did to replicate the music of that eraI am a poet and read a lot of literature For this film we didnrsquot create anything different we simply revived the magic that existed in our history We took inspiration from the bandish of Amir Khusro If our people werenrsquot drawn to our culture a series like Heeramandi would not work We need to trust our work and we know that many people have faith in our trust We donrsquot need to destroy our historyIs there any song from the set list that holds special significance for youAzadi is an important song for me because we have put the spotlight on women a group that comprises 50 per cent of our population If a group makes up half of our population their rights should be equal to our own When it comes to accounting for what has been done for the country only the things that have been done are of importance the individualrsquos religion is of no significance When women ask for freedom they want it for their husbands children or other family members We wanted to lavishly showcase that burning desire for freedom among women via this song