In a fitting, self-written song released on Thursday, fifteen lyric writers from the Hindi film industry, including Varun Grover, Kausar Munir, Sameer Anjaan, Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya, demanded that they be credited properly for their work on music platforms. The track titled "Credit De Do Yaar", penned by Munir, Grover and Kirkire, comes over a week after many songwriters took to Twitter to criticise lack of credits for lyricists on music streaming platforms. Singer Shreya Ghoshal shared the video on her Instagram handle and wrote, "#CreditDeDoYaar 15 contemporary lyrics writers come together to sing their humble demand - asking for proper credits on music streaming platforms and youtube channels. Let’s make this happen as music lovers and fans. The system needs a change.
Let’s give the due respect and love our writers/lyricists deserve that they shouldn’t even have to ask for. They are the unsung heroes behind every hit that we fall in love with. It’s their words that we sing for generations which become a part of our lives, our philosophies and our expressions. Forever grateful to each and everyone of them with whom I have sung many memorable songs!"
Neelesh Misra, Manoj Muntashir, Mayur Puri, Shellee, Puneet Sharma, Abhiruchi Chand, Hussain Haidry, Raj Shekhar, Anvita Dutt, and Kumaar are also part of the initiative. The link of the 2 minute 38 second-long video was shared by the lyricists on their social media accounts.
"15 contemporary lyrics writers come together to sing their humble demand - asking for proper credits on music streaming platforms and YouTube channels. #CreditDeDoYaar," tweeted Grover.
Sung by Kirkire, the hook line of the telling song is: "Shabd hee geeton ka hai saar, band karo ye atyachaar. Itna bhi na rude bano ji, humein credit de do yaar ("Words are the essence of a song, stop this torture. Don't be so rude, give us our credit)."
At the end of the video, Grover, who has penned songs for films like "Masaan", "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" and "Gangs of Wasseypur", said the song is a small attempt from their end towards a big issue.
"We are under no false impression that you will remember our faces, but please make sure you remember our names as the whole fight is about the name," he said.
"No matter where you listen to our songs - streaming platforms, apps or on the official YouTube channels of music companies, most of the times it happens that the credit of a lyricist is missing. We just want them to credit us properly wherever they play our songs," he added.
Grover also appealed to the audience to participate with the lyricists in their appeal. "If you see that the name of a lyricist is missing from a song, please raise your voice," he added.
Composed by Chinmayi Tripathi and Joell Mukherjii, the grey-scale video is edited by Abhishek Bhutwani.
-With PTI inputs
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