It is essential for any song or poetry to touch "human truth" in order to become timeless, says National Award-winning lyricist Swanand Kirkire.
Kirkire, who won critical acclaim for his very first film song 'Baawara mann' and went on to pen popular songs like 'Bande mein tha dum' and 'Behti Hawa sa tha wo', also made no bones about admitting that he is not a "typical poet".
The 47-year-old songwriter-singer made the remarks during an interaction with PTI ahead of the launch of his maiden book "AapKamai", a compilation of his Hindi poems written over a period of time.
"There is no doubt that I owe my existence (popularity) to film songs. I don't know about the style of poetry, its grammar or its form. Someone may even find it (my poems) superficial, while others may find it deep, layered. But certainly what I write comes from my heart and speaks for my heart. So, there's a truth in my writings that you can't deny," Kirkire says.
Asked which -- film songs or books -- he felt were a more effective medium for a writer to convey thoughts, he says either could have an impact if it is good enough to touch the "human truth".
"Not all film songs or poems become timeless. A song has to be good, a poem has to be good. There was Ghalib, Kabir, Surdas, and others whose writings were so good that they became timeless.
"So, have you touched human truth with your work? As a poet or an artist have you even reached somewhere near that human truth? And it is only time that will tell if you have reached there, and your work would be regarded as timeless," he says.
About his book "AapKamai", published by Sarthak, an imprint of the Rajkamal Prakashan group, he says, "I had never thought I would get a book of my poems. Getting my film songs compiled in a book alone would have been enough, so yes, in that terms it's a great feeling be known as an author of a book."
Kirkire, who has also ventured into acting in films and theatre, says the book captures his various moods in his distinctive style of writing - dreamy, contemporary, and positive.
He says it is essential for any good work to reach the people and not stay confined in spaces belonging only to the "elites".
"What good is it if I know I have written something amazing and those close to me also acknowledge that but the people in general never get to know of it, it doesn't reach them?
"I try to be that bridge between the elite and the masses," he says.
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