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Shah Rukh Khan

Pyarelal defends smoking and drinking scenes in films
07th May 2008 09.00 IST
By Agencies

Legendary music director Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo has joined the debate doing the rounds triggered by Union Health Minister remarks about keeping smoking and drinking scenes out of films.

The music director said such a situation is impossible as the scripts demands such characters and imposing such restrictions would be tantamount to limiting artistic creativity.

"If an actor is playing the role of a crook, how can you expect that a devotional song will be picturised on him without a cigarette or alcohol in his hand? I think that will limit the creativity of the writer or director," Pyarelal said Tuesday.

"Or please spare songs on Mirza Ghalib 'shayaris' because most of them can't be imagined without drinking scenes," he added.

Recently, the Health Minister had commented that actors should not drink or smoke on screen in films and serials as drinking or smoking scenes glorify the use of alcohol and youngsters in their bid to imitate their icons end up abusing the substance.

"We make music keeping the situation and character in mind. I think Shah Rukh Khan or Dilip Kumar in a Devdaas song without a liquor bottle in hand would not be acceptable. Sanjay Dutt in 'Choli ke peeche song', Dev Anand in 'Main Zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya' are some examples where you cannot compromise with the character's demand," said the veteran who together with Laxmikant gave music for almost 500 films in a career spanning 35 years.

The duo won several awards including seven Filmfare Awards, four times in a row, for their musical scores.

Disapproving the use of 'drinking scenes' just to inject a fun element Pyarelal said, "It should be stopped. Most of my songs were without these scenes. It’s not possible for me to imagine a drinking or smoking song scene in films like 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'. Those who are taking advantage of the freedom, should be warned."

Laxmikant-Pyarelal worked with almost all notable filmmakers of their times including Raj Kapoor , Dev Anand, Feroz Khan , B.R. Chopra , Shakti Samanta, Manmohan Desai , Yash Chopra , Subhash Ghai and Manoj Kumar .

Commenting on the present day music, Pyarelal said there is no dearth of talented singers or music directors in the country but the industry needs a revolution. "The emphasis of the present day music is instant popularity and not something original. It can't be changed in one day and will take some time. It is up to public what they want to hear."

Adding that of late, the quality of Hindi film music has seen a downfall and the timeless melodies era of music directors like Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan-Mohan, Khayyam, O P Nayyar, S D Burman will never be recreated, he said, "Today the importance of lyrics has taken a back seat and much attention is being given to sound.

"There are some great lyricists like Gulzar Saheb who can write good lines even with the present-day norms and new values."

(The picture shows Amitabh Bachchan smoking in a scene from Bunty Aur Babli .

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