Introduction

Irshad Kamil is a well known lyricist. He wrote lyrics for the movie Raanjhanaa (2013), which was the Top Album on iTunes within a week of its release. AR Rahman has described lyric writer Irshad Kamil as an “understated individual”. Irshad holds a PhD in Hindi Poetry. Armed with formidable writing skills, Irshad has written some beautiful lyrics for songs in movies like Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kaal (2009), Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Cocktail (2012) among others.

Early Life

Irshad Kamil was born as the youngest of seven children to Mohammed Saddique and Begum Iqbal Bano in a middle class family. His father was the only earning member in the family, who worked in the Chemistry department of the Government College at Malerkotla in the Sangrur district of Punjab. Irshad was always interested in the arts; from poetry to writing and acting from his early days at the Sanatan Dharam Prem Pracharak High School. His teachers often complimented him for his essay writing skills. In keeping with his father’s wishes, Irshad took up science at the Government College as his father thought that Science was the only opportunity given to people of their class.

Entry to Bollywood

Producer Lekh Tandon brought Irshad to Mumbai. He began his career by writing scripts for television soaps in 1998. Some of his earlier scripts were for soaps like Na Jaiyao Pardes and Kahan Se Kahan Tak, while his first script was writing the dialogue for Manish Goswami’s serial Kartavya. Soon he wrote the script for Pankaj Kapoor’s serial Drishtaant. He then worked with musician Sandesh Shandilya. His first songs for Bollywood films was for the movie Chameli (2004), followed by Shabd (2005) and Socha Na Tha (2005). Other films that he wrote the song lyrics include Ahista Ahista (2006), Jab We Met (2007), Aa Dekhen Zara (2009), Khatta Meetha (2010), Action Replayy(2010), Son of Sardar (2012),Cocktail ( 2012), Aashiqui 2(2013) and Raanjhnaa(2013) among others.

His songs like Chor Bazari and Aaj Din Chadheya for the movie Love Aaj Kal (2009) won him several awards. He finally received the Filmfare Award for Best Lyrics Naadaan Parindey for Imtiaz Ali’s film Rockstar (2011). Some of the latest films he has been associated with as a writer includes Phata Poster Nikla Hero (2013), Gunday (2014) and Highway (2014).

Awards

Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for Aaj din chadheya from Love Aaj Kal in 2010 and for ‘Nadaan parindey’ from Rockstar in 2012.

Other milestones include three Global Indian Music Academy Awards—two for The Best Lyricist and one for Best Film Song—one International Indian Film Award, one Nokia Screen Award, one Apsara Award and six Mirchi Music Awards.

Books

Poems written by Irshad Kamil are published in two anthologies:

• Musings: Mosaic, features compilations from 53 poets, notable among who are Gulzar, Ruskin Bond, Shashi Tharoor, Deepti Naval, Sandeep Nath and Dr. Sukrita Kumar Paul.

• The other anthology called Interlinks features 153 poets, prominent among who are Kapil Sibal, Shekhar Kapoor, Vkram Seth and APJ Abdul Kalam.