Giving credit to the writers is a fairly simple and legitimate thing that we, as a nation, have not been able to come to terms with.
For some unimaginable reason, videos still go on YouTube with no mention of the lyricist, and often, even Google fails you in the first few searches.
This is a cultural issue and to tackle the same, 15 lyricists of the Hindi film industry decided to make a song titled Credit De Do Yaar.
Written by Kausar Munir, Varun Grover and Swanand Kirkire, the song starts like this:
Tinka tinka pankh utha ke, dil ka poora chunk utha ke, humne daanv lagaya tha, ek nanha geet banaaya tha. Jisse duniya saari cool kahe, kya humne geet fizool kahe? Par abey yaar, humko hi tum bhool gaye.
And then the chorus comes:
Achche waale dude bano ji, humein credit de do yaar.
The next part of the song is about the power of lyrics, and the fact that they are the foundation of any song.
Khayaalon ki buniyaad bichcha ke, shabdon ka ek pul bana ke, dil se dil milaate hain, hum jeevan geet banaate hain…Lafz bina awaaz kahan? Singing stars bhi hain bekaar, we are all in this together, hum ko credit de do yaar.
Ultimately, when the song ends, Varun makes this heartfelt appeal to people on behalf of all other lyricists: A simple request, credit de do yaar.
Ye hum 15 geetkaaron ki choti si koshish thi, ek bade se mudde ko lekar. Hum aisi kisi ghalat fehmi mein nahin hain ki aapko hamari shaklein yaad rahengi. But please make sure ki naam yaad rahein. Kyunki saari ladayi naam ki hi hai.
Now, while the lyricists (a few of them being the recipients of the national award) tried to give this a fun twist, let us not forget that what is happening, is unfortunate.
It is unfair that they have to request, plead for something that is rightfully theirs. These people have given words to our love, our sadness, our passion – and we can’t even give them credit? That doesn’t sit right.
You can watch the video here:
All screenshots have been taken the from the video and the lyricists associated with the song are: Sameer Anjaan, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Neelesh Misra, Manoj Muntashir, Mayur Puri, Kumaar, Shellee, Anvita Dutt, Swanand Kirkire, Kausar Munir, Raj Shekhar, Abhiruchi Chand, Hussain Haidry, Puneet Sharma and Varun Grover.
