Revered lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar on Friday
said the standards of modern day Bollywood music have dropped and that is a
reflection of contemporary society.

Asked about the quality of present day music, Akhtar
said: “The standards have dropped. But you should see things in right
perspective. Film music or film dialogues or films itself are not produced in a
void. They are part of a society and whatever is happening in the society will
reflect here also.”

Explaining the phenomenon, the veteran poet said:
“What has happened tragically is that in the last 30-40 years, our society
has progressed materially, industrially and technically. We have gone up and
today the urban middle-class is doing well for itself. That’s wonderful.

“But in this chase of catching the gravy train
we left certain things at the platform. Like music, like poetry, like
literature and fine arts were very low on the priority list.

“In our schools and homes we have not exposed
our children to classical music, to Indian art, Indian folk music, Indian
folklore, Indian poetry, and now when a child grows up totally devoid and
unexposed, then how do you expect that one day he will suddenly develop great
aesthetics.”

He said when people coming from such social strata
write scripts or direct films or compose songs, the products are all
“grammatically wrong”.

“Then the song is released, even the public
have no problem as they don’t know. That is how our vocabulary is shrinking,
our grammar has gone haywire.”

Renowned music composer and singer Shankar
Mahadevan, although in a much more mellowed manner, echoed Akhtar.

“There are compositions which will stand the
test of time like my ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, ‘Mitya’, or ‘Sapno se Bhare Naina’. That
will stay for sometime, that’s what we feel. Eventually it’s quality and depth
that will stay. From a music pandit to a small child everybody should be able
to appreciate your music. That is the kind of composition that will stay for a
long time.”

Later at the media interaction, Akhtar said the most
of the music made today is for the discos and make no room for good lyrics.

Among the present lyricists, he rated Irshad Kamil
and Swanand Kirkire very highly.