Passion for the words

Munshi Wadud is one of the fourteen National Film Award winners for the year 2007. He received the 'Best Lyricist' award for the songs in the film Shajghar (directed by Shah Alam Kiron). So far the skilled lyricist has penned many songs that were used in films and have become popular. Apart from writing songs, Wadud is also a skilled scriptwriter. The award-winning lyricist recently talked to The Daily Star about his passion and profession.
Wadud started writing songs in late 1960s. At that time, he was a student of class nine and used to listen to a lot of records. According to Wadud, his affection for words and rhymes grow after listening to these records. Later he completed Masters in Bengali literature from Dhaka University, which helped him to understand the poetic essence of songs.
Wadud was actively involved with the Mass Upsurge of 1969 as well as with the Liberation War. "During the Liberation War, I wrote many songs and poems at the camps," He reckoned.
After the war, Wadud joined Radio Bangladesh as a lyricist and also started working for Bangladesh Television. Some of Wadud's popular lyrics are -- Chandra shurjo shob-i achhey, E badhon jabena chhirey, Tomar Chandana morey gechhey and Modhuchandrimar ei raat.
On his award winning work in Shajghar, Wadud said, "The film features two songs. The director gave me total freedom. Noted playback singer Andrew Kishore received a National Award for rendering the songs for the film."
Apart from Shajghar, Wadud penned lyrics for a number of acclaimed films including Parinita, Hangor Nadi Grenade, E Badhon Jabena Chhirey and Ghani.
Wadud's most recent works are lyrics for the upcoming film Mayer Moto Bhabi, scheduled to be released this Eid. The film is a joint-production of Bangladesh and India and some noted Indian singers including Anuradha Paudwal, Sadhna Sargam, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Shaan have done the playback singing.
Of all his achievements so far, Wadud mentioned that a programme on Radio Bangladesh titled, Shororitur Bangladesh, is his favourite work. He wrote and compiled for the programme, which was composed and produced by Film Harmonic Orchestra.
As a lyricist, Wadud's point of view is, "A good song is the output of a teamwork involving the lyricist, the composer and the singer(s). Profound meaning and poetry are essential for a song."
"Those, who are writing songs at present, cannot avoid these things if s/he wants to write quality songs," Wadud concluded.