Kausar Munir: The Accidental Songwriter

Kausar Munir was a simple girl from Bandra with literature in her head and a passion for Urdu songs in her heart. She always believed in going with the flow and even today, when people ask her about her riveting success, she smiles and quotes the power of destiny and luck. This is Kausar Munir’s story of astonishing success and self-belief.

Kausar Munir, Source: Indiatoday

"Our generation had really good songs. Today's songs just don't have that quality and finesse." This statement, a constant refrain of our parents and grandparents, should be taken with a grain of salt. The current crop of Bollywood lyricists boasts names that are single-handedly uplifting the songwriting scene of the industry. Lyricists like Anvita Dutt, Varun Grover, and Amitabh Bhattacharya are continuing the august legacy of their illustrious forbears like Javed Akhtar, Shailendra, and Sahir Ludhianvi. This younger generation is producing good, meaningful music that resonates beautifully with the culturally-starved youth of India, tired of unending remakes and remixes that pass as music. The use of chaste Urdu and the ghazal style of songwriting have become prominent again — in a refreshing blend of Urdu high culture and the modern music scene, rap artists are writing songs in Urdu.

India has always been valued for its rich cultural and linguistic diversity. Urdu was considered the language of the educated and noble before the anarchy of English, enforced by British colonisation, came along. The gradual increase in the number of Urdu-based songs has allowed India to reclaim her pre-colonial elegant spirit. Songs with breathtaking and melodious lyrics came along with the exceptional talent of many songwriters. Even though everyone is aware of the mystical magic that Gulzar’s poetry creates, Kausar Munir, a lyricist and songwriter working actively in Bollywood for one and a half decades, is still a new name to many.

One can recognize her songs but many are not aware that a woman called Kausar Munir, from Bandra, Mumbai happens to be the songwriter of those songs. Be it the flawless sufi album of Ishaqzaade or 'Mashallah' from Ek Tha Tiger, Munir was the pen-wielder who bought such divinely romantic lyrics to life.

When one hears her name, people assume that she is a man. There are many reasons behind it. Even though her name sounds androgynous, it’s the fact that the Indian film industry is so male-dominated, especially when it comes to lyricists, that one cannot think of more than five female names across time. Kausar entered the whirlwind of the Indian music industry on a whim. It was never a dream; it was never meant to be even a second option.

Ishaqzaade became a breakthrough in Munir's career as a songwriter, Source: blogspot

Kausar majored in English at the prestigious St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Growing up in Bandra, she had a wide variety of exposure to literary and talented crowds of people. She happens to be the great-granddaughter of Salma Siddiqui, who was a prominent Urdu writer in the 1900s and was a member of the Progressive Writers’ Movement.

This legacy of Urdu was active in Kausar’s genes, but surprisingly, she was never interested in Urdu during her developmental years. She majored in English and set down to a quiet life of editing and researching. But the Bollywood surroundings she lived in, and due to her family’s prestigious and historical identity, she came in contact with the TV industry and was hired to be the screenwriter of a show called ‘Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi’. It was on the sets of this show that she met the director of the movie, which became her break as a songwriter.

The movie was Tashan, the song was ‘Falak Tak’ and it became the turning point of Kausar’s career as a songwriter. Before this song, Kausar never knew that she could write Urdu songs. She gave it a try because the song and the movie demanded it. After ‘Falak Tak’, there was no going back for Kausar. Urdu embraced her and Bollywood was blessed.

Today, Kausar is the proud writer of many evergreen albums. She coined the term ‘Ishaqzaade’ and the director was so impressed with the word that he named his movie after it. If someone asks Kausar Munir what the reason behind her immense success in being only a few of the women songwriters in Bollywood is, she would say that it is instinct and belief in oneself. Kausar’s story is inspirational and makes one believe in the magic of destiny.