Dominance of meaningless songs disturbs Javed Akhtar

Mumbai, Feb 16 (IANS) Lyricist Javed Akhtar says he is saddened by the phenomenon of meaningless songs increasing day by day and dominating the music scene.

"At any given point of time there have been all kinds of songs. I am not saying there shouldn't be any item song or there should not be any particular song which is not meaningful. It's fine! But what disturbs me is that most of the songs are becoming like that," Akhtar told IANS.

"That should not happen. Once in a while you can take a light-hearted song and enjoy it but if you feel that this is becoming a general thing then that is what disturbs me," he added.

Recently the lyricist penned down some popular songs like "Tum ho toh" ("Rock On!"); "Sapnon se bhare naina" ("Luck By Chance"); "Dil dhadakne do" and "Senorita" ("Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara") and "Jashn-E-Bahaaraa" ("Jodhaa Akbar").

And he does not want to blame the youth for the trend.

"Don't blame the youth, it is not the youth. It is some people who are not particularly young themselves, but they feel this is what youth wants. So they are the people who are giving things to the market and these are the people who are responsible," the 67-year-old said.

He also observed that lyricist and the scriptwriters are still not getting the credit for their work.

"Things have changed but things have yet to change a lot... like proper credit. Some radios which have time to narrate all kinds of stupid jokes don't have time to name the writer or the music director who have created the song. So these things should change," he said.

Javed Akhtar Pictures