Irshad Kamil on teaming up with Jab We Met and Cocktail teammates, Imtiaz Ali and Pritam, again
Soumya Vajpayee Tiwari (MID-DAY; June 13, 2017)

He may have had only one big release to his credit last year, Salman Khan’s Sultan, but lyricist Irshad Kamil has been neck-deep in work since. The Sachin Anthem and Hind Meri Jind from Sachin: A Billion Dreams were well received. “Sachin Tendulkar is larger than life. During the course of this biopic, I unfailingly turned into a fanboy,” Kamil tells mid-day.

The writer is excited about his work in Manisha Koirala’s Dear Maya and Sridevi-starrer Mom. The tracks of Imtiaz Ali’s much anticipated next, Jab Harry Met Sejal, have also been penned by him. This brings him back in the company of his Jab We Met, Cocktail and Love Aaj Kal partners, Imtiaz and composer Pritam Chakraborty. “Spontaneity and madness is what defines the three of us when together,” he says.

Among his contemporaries, he is perhaps the only lyricist to have collaborated with A R Rahman on back-to-back projects, the latest being Sachin and Mom (releases in July). “I feel honoured to have regularly worked with a genius like him. The songs of Mom, a film that revolves around a mother-daughter relationship, are emotional. The film’s director, Ravi Udyawar, was deeply involved in the project and his clarity helped get the best out of me. His imagination was so strong that I was weaving words to his visuals. The project has taught me a lot.”

Besides working on films, Kamil also wants to help budding writers understand the difference between good and bad writing. In order to contribute to the art, he is planning to launch a platform, called Pen-Friend, which will help aspiring writers connect with him. “Expression through words is thought to be the simplest of all arts, and in the time of social media, there is an abundance of this creativity. This is both, good and bad. I still consider myself amateur, but people send me write- ups on social media, seeking comments. While I don’t consider myself competent enough to guide them on good writing, I can help them understand what doesn’t constitute good writing. I want to create a pen friend culture,” says Kamil.