Author: Shabbir Chunawalla

Prasoon Joshi is indebted to advertising for giving him his wife Aparna, and the luxury of writing poetry. His biggest inspiration is his 10 year old daughter Aaishaanya and his nani.

He belongs to the quiet hills of Almora in Kumaon.His father was a civil servant and during his tenure in the education ministry., he was posted as PCS officer. Prasoon used to remain in the library during night, and woke up to his mother’s early morning riyaaz.Prasoon’s mother is an A-grade singer and sang for AIR and was a teacher at a college. Prasoon thus inherits music in his blood. She also writes in Pahadi and has recently written a book. Sumitranandan Pant is her father’s cousin.At 16, he began reading Nietzsche which blew his mind. He was from a religious family, and could not believe reading ‘God is dead.’ and that sort of thing. He could not believe that someone could be so iconoclastic. he did not know how much he understood but he understood the style.

He did his  masters in mathematics and MBA from IMT, Ghaziabad.His summer assignment was at Grey Worldwide. He joined O&M on the creative side.His boss was his guru — Suresh Mallik who created Mile Sur Tumhara.Suresh Malik was the Creative Director of O&M. Prasoon would make tea for Malik and do all the odd jobs. Malik even flung a shoe at him for making a mistake and would keep asking him to write visuals as he would for a child. It taught Prasoon to reach out to a lager audience. Then Piyush taught him metaphors and language.He honed his skills under the shadow of Piyush Pandey. Piyush taught him the nuances of connecting with the masses. The combination of these two people groomed him. He was taught the craft of writing by Neil French.He moved to Mccann Erickson as the Creative Director and created Thanda Matlab Coca Cola and Happydent’s Mera Tan Roshan, Mera Man Roshan.He is now the executive chairman and South Asia Creative Diraector of McCann Erickson.

He wrote for Subha Mugdal’s music albums. Amitabh heard a song Matti from the album and wrote a letter to him. He told Raj Kumar Santoshi about him.He wrote lyrics for the title track in Lajja. Ilayaraja composed his first song which Lata Mangeshkar sang. He met Adi Chopra at airport and their equation clicked. Adi made him write the lyrics for Hum Tum.He wrote lyrics for Rang De Basanti and Tare Zameen Par.

He writes in the languages he has heard — Hindi, Urdu, and the dialects. His real obsession is with sunshine. That comes from his childhood. The sun moves across the valley in the meadows. The shadows play with the sunlight. It is like a sound and light show.These images reflect in his poetry.

He has great respect for Gulzar whom he calls a safed moti. He says, ‘Mumbai ko kai cheezon ke bawajood maaf kar deta hoon kyunki yahan Gulzar sahab rehte hain.’ I ignore many limitations of Mumbai because Gulzar resides in Mumbai.He likes poet lyricists like Kaifi Azmi, Shailendra and Majrooh. According to him, poetry expresses feelings economically.

He has written the script, screenplay, dialogues and songs for the film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.He wrote his first book at the tender age of 17 — Mai(n) Aur Woh.

Prasoon Joshi has donned the role of a music composer in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan. He composed the tune of Kaun Si Dor.He conceived the tune while taking bath and reecorded it on iPhone, and emailed the same To Prakash Jha and Shankar Mahadevan. They liked the tune and decided to retain it as it is. Pandit Chhanulal Mishra agreed to sing it.

He feels that ideas choose a man rather than the other way round  — a man choosing the idea. Some songs are like ripe mangoes. They fall out of a poet’s imagination. A lyricist is given a narration.There is a discussion.Then it is down to the music director and the lyricist. A word that is important is adjusted in the tune by the music director. In a song, there are several things left unspoken. That allows the listener participation. He likes writing songs featured in the background. In Taare Zameen Par, a child being left at the Boarding School has unspoken fears of a child being abandoned. Main Kabhi Batlata Nahin, Par Andhere Se Darta Hoon, Ma(n).There is a choice here — whether to articulate mother’s feelings or child’s. The song appeals as there is a parent and child in each one of us.

He does not take success too seriously. But success makes others take notice of your work. Your view-point is respected. You are given space to work. But there is a disadvantage. You can get away with some mediocre work.