Loss of films is the loss of the whole nation, poet and
lyricist Javed Akhtar said here on Thursday referring to the inferior content
of cinematic texts and lyrical music.

“Loss of films is the loss of the whole country. Films have a heavy impact
on the masses and thus if film music is inappropriate or vulgar, the whole
nation is affected ,” Javed said. 

“You can’t blame the writer for that. Problem is not with the music
makers, it is with the masses, who appreciate it and make it a hit,” he
added.

“Why don’t audiences reject such songs? They only protest when their
religious sentiments are hurt but there are no protests against vulgarity in
the lyrics,” he said.

“Songs are written on situations. Stories and music has changed. The value
of words has deteriorated as our language is becoming thin. The young
generation is never heard using proverbs.”

Akhtar was speaking at the launch of Sahir Samagra, an exhaustive
collection of Sahir Ludhianvi’s writings published by Rajkamal Prakashan and
edited by novelist Aasha Prabhat.

“The young generation today doesn’t know poetry, language, literature,
folk songs and tradition. They say it is because of bad upbringing if a person
has a good command over Hindi and Urdu,” the lyricist said.

“It is completely understandable that English is crucial in the 21st
century but we have to have bilingual kids,” he added.

Akhtar said he writes to reach the masses and the idea is never to use
difficult vocabularies to make an impression.

He said: “It’s easy to write in a difficult language but it’s difficult to
write in an easy language. The reader or the listener would only be impressed
by the simple poetry if its content is substantial. Use of difficult words help
the writer camouflage the inadequacy of ideas and thoughts.”

Talking about social issues being addressed in films, he said: “Cinema has
changed and nowadays films seldom address social issues. These days movies are
made on the ruling class while old films targeted the labour/working class. It
is because the middle class today is rich and disinterested in knowing the poor
man’s issues.”