Music is the voice of 'Aarakshan': Prasoon Joshi

The words, when they pour out of lyricist Prasoon Joshi's pen, sound sweeter than music. Now, the National Film Award winner is all set to mesmerise his fans with his music, as well. Prasoon has not only written four songs for Prakash Jha's upcoming film Aarakshan, he has also composed music for the track titled Kaun Si Dor. Speaking exclusively to IBNLive, he says that turning music composer for the first time was not planned at all - in fact, he credits it to serendipity.

"I was just writing the songs for Aarakshan. A tune came to my head. I discussed it with Shankar (Music director Shankar Mahadevan is also his close friend) and he liked the tune. It was not at all pre-planned and it happened quite by accident."

Aarakshan, a high voltage drama will star Bollywood heavyweights like Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Manoj Bajpai.

In fact, courtesy his close friendship with Shankar Mahadevan, Aarakshan will now feature the lyricist's music as well. Prasoon points out, "Shankar, Ehsan and Loy, are all my good friends. I would not have shared my music with anyone else but them." In his characteristic lilting voice, he adds, "It was very kind of Shankar to keep my tune. Shankar-Ehsan-Loy are very much the music directors of the film, and they have just done some experimentation with my song. I am a big fan of Pandit Chunnulal Misra and am so glad that he will be singing the track Kaun Si Dor."

Prasoon who admits that he is an avid watcher of Prakash Jha's films says that unlike his earlier movies, the music in Aarakshan plays an integral part to the film. Jha who has directed films like Gangaajal and Raajneeti is known to have hard-hitting storylines, with the plot and the characterisation pushing everything else into the background. However, speaking about Aarakshan, Prasoon points out, "The kind of music Prakashji wanted for Aarakshan was very planned. His films don't usually have many songs. However, music, is the voice of Aarakshan. The music speaks what Jha wants to say through his film." "Through my song", Prasoon adds, "I have had to capture the same essence."

And it is not just Prakash Jha's ingenious use of music in taking his story forward, but his films themselves have Prasoon greatly impressed. He is all praise for the filmmaker as he says, "He thoroughly knows what he is doing. He knows his subject well and pays attention to every detail. Yet, he stays so simplistic in his approach."