[Reader-list] Absolute Motherfuckers, Bollywood Music, Prashant Pandey

Prashant Pandey jumpshark at gmail.com
Thu Nov 10 15:33:25 IST 2005


Ravinder writes songs and is a self-styled composer. He does not like
the word struggler which I use. He says, "You also write and I guess
nobody else but you have told me this…so aren't you also a struggler."

Means ?

Means……till the time you have to say… " I am this…. I am that…. You
are a struggler" Would Javed Akhtar or Anurag Kshyap say " I am a
writer"

Yes they would say if they went to U.S or say any other country..

If they went to U.S na…. Bombay mein to nahi bolna padta( In Bombay
they do not have to introduce themselves)

Ravinder's angst is work related.

He wants a life where he does not have to do rounds of music
companies' offices, houses of umpteen directors and production houses.

"Make so much market that people come to you."

Ravinder is in his late twenties. He is from Gaya, Bihar.

"I saw Chandrakantha serial and I decided that I will join this world.
I started writing my own Chandrakantha but I gave it up. I wrote two
plays but they could not be staged. When I reached class 9th. I had
enough. I came to Bombay."


Oh that was way back…. You must have been very young.

Yes I was. I am still young… but you must be thinking that I have been
in Bombay all this while…

No

I kept going back to my home as one or other problems kept creeping up.

Ok……….like what?

My brother passed away.

Ohh……….Was he ill ?

Like there was a marriage ceremony in my village and my elder brother
was electrocuted there was an open wire…everybody was drunk and
dancing……
When he died I had to go home…. Didn't feel like seeing his face….I
was scared……. For one year I was haunted by his dreams…….I was ill for
such a long time. Then I came back…

You have kheti? (Agriculture)

Yes now my uncle does it…….. I have been declared as a bhagoda….in the family.

How do u manage in Bombay?

I write for some tv shows

Like ?

Right now I am not writing……..but I manage somehow…

How ?

Why is my monthly income…….a part of you research……

Yes… you must tell me your income…….

Are you from CBI?

Tell me yaar

Its 8-9…

Per week ??

Ravinder looks at me and shakes his head in disapproval and controlled anger.

I have pissed him off badly. Its my bad research day.

Had I been earning so much. I would not have been sitting in this tea
stall with you. I would have been fucking all these model-shodels in
my house.

This is not a tea stall.

Wherever one gets a cup of tea…….is a tea stall for me", he says smugly.

We are sitting in a very famous andheri west landmark called hotel
kalinga. This is just down the SAB tv building and the tea is on me.

Ravinder face looks weathered. I am sorry to tell you but he is a
stereotypical struggler. His shirt is dirty. His pant must be torn
somewhere. A part of his hair is turning grey. His shoes are old. Yet
he looks confident. He looks menacingly at your face but there is lot
of intensity and weight in his words especially when he is talking
about his future. I met him during one of the visits to the writers
association.

A lot of struggling lyricists come to association everyday to get
their songs copyrighted and registered.

"I had written 22 new songs so I came here." he tells me.

I had a brief chat with him and asked him to meet up some other day at
Fame adlabs. I asked for his cell number but he refused.

"If I say I will meet you I will"

He has kept his promise. We are sitting at KALINGA café nearby.

Hey you must be very young when you came to Bombay. how it was.

It was regular. My chacha lived here. He was a manager in a courier
company. So he enrolled me in the open school.

But ur life and studies have never been smooth.

Yes.

I never wanted to study so after 12th I decided……..that's it.
College will not make me a better writer….this will (he shows a ball-pen)


At this point Ravinder gets a phone call. There is great deal of
urgency in him now.

He says," 5 minutes"

Ok. Tell me this last question… you think that Bombay industry has
been fair to you?

"Yes it has been very fair to me. Industry is good but people are bad.
I have given my songs to a lot of directors but they shove it in their
ass.
Lot of people have stolen my story ideas and have made films. These
are the people that you people admire and look up to. But they are
absolute motherfuckers. They have no time to think and they need
people like us for ideas. I am not Anurag Kashyap or Sameer so I cant
screw them.
So Prashantji the moral of the story is – if you can not screw
them…they will screw you."
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Prashant Pandey


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