Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

On the one hand Prasoon Joshi has been anointed as the head of McCann Erickson as its Creative Head and on the other hand his swan song of RANG DE BASANTI: Ru baru…, which conveys the angst of the youth of the today is already emerging as the numero uno song of the year. While Prasoon has been wrapping the awards after he stepped into the arena of lyrics writing, no song has caught the imagination of the nation as the Ru Baru.

It has got a distinctive Gulzaresque flavour manifest from the usage of the word ‘Saala…’ that conveys the awakening of the youth and no other word could have summed up the angst and the spirit of awakening, as ‘Saala’ does. And the lyrics are a fresh change in the era where the lyrics come more in the nature of rhyming than in being able to convey the mood of the situation. His approach is the point of departure for the Indian lyrics of the present times, as it though may have the flavour of ‘taporipana’ it never leaves the ground as far as conveying the emotions are concerned, and is therefore in sync with the music.

This is where he has the striking parallels with Gulzar and to a lesser extent with Javed Akhtar as from two different extremes they are conveying the existentialist dilemma that the youth of the country fights itself in. Comparison between ‘Beedi Jalaile’ of Gulzar and ‘Rubaru’ by Prasoon Joshi is ample testimony as Beedi is reflecting the state of confusion that the rural youth of the country is in today, while Rubaru is narration of the cross roads that the urban youth is standing at present. Gulzar was able to carve a niche for himself in the era of stalwarts as he had a Pancham who understood how to convert the words of Gulzar into the nodes, and Prasoon comparatively is in a better position, as the competition for him is not of the same magnitude.

Besides, Gulzar, and Javed Akhtar now are not that prolific so it leaves the field wide open for Prasoon Joshi to develop his style of rendition which apart from setting the gray cells thinking like Gulzar, also brings the touch of being associated with the ground realities and therefore it hits the bulls eyes nine out of ten times. Besides, Prasoon Joshi also dabbles with non-filmy lyrics ala Gulzar and Javed Akhtar, and there also he has tasted sweet success, as in the case of ‘Abki Saawan’ by Shubha Mudgal. Where one to do a sort of analysis about the kind of songs that Prasoon Joshi has penned so far, from all of them, one thing that would emerge as the recurring motif is the energy levels of octane type that it conveys, and it most of the time guides to a state of hope beyond the darkness, from despair to brightness.

The point of departure that Prasoon Joshi has from Gulzar is that Gulzar's sensibility is seeped mainly in the nuances of Punjab and derives its inspiration from the rural milieu of Punjab; sensibilities of Joshi are more urbanesque and have a pan Indian feeling seeped as it is with the spices of Indian variety.

It indeed would be a treat to watch as to whether Gulzar or Joshi would ultimately emerge as the winner for this year, but that would not be the end of it. But a new beginning as the lyrics of Indian movie are going to have a ‘Basanti’ hue for long times to come.