Vishal Bhardwaj: ‘We unite to make songs. Why not unite to fight?’

This shouldrsquove been thought of earlierrdquo says filmmakercomposer Vishal Bhardwaj But itrsquos never too late for positive change On February 27 Bhardwaj president of the Music Composers Association of India MCAI led the change as he signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with Screenwriters Association SWA that represents lyricists The landmark agreement establishes composers and lyricists as equal authors of songs and is designed to ensure fair credit and contracts for both partiesRaj ShekharThe MoU proposes that lyricists and composers will be deemed ldquoprimary artistesrdquo This will serve as the artistesrsquo foundation for negotiations with producers and music labels Bhardwaj tells midday that over the past year the MCAI and SWA have been formulating the MoU keeping in mind the challenges of composers and lyricists He hails the move stating ldquoItrsquos a commendable development Both parties are progressive It took almost one year as they brainstormed so that the point of view and challenges of both parties could be captured Seventy years passed and we hadnrsquot thought that we should come together for this We unite to make songs So why not come together to fight Each is incomplete without the other If a song is a hit itrsquos never only because of the tune or only for the wordsrdquoA crucial consequence of equal authorship is fair credit While lyricists are often not credited on a filmrsquos publicity material or audiostreaming platforms the MoU mandates fair creative practices Lyricist Raj Shekhar who has penned songs for Deva and Animal 2023 states ldquoThe MoU is the first step in ensuring fair credit If on the publicity material of a film HoDs are mentioned composers and lyricistsrsquo names will be mentioned as well Wersquove been talking to streaming platforms and there are missing credits of a lot of artistes I can reach out to them regarding the lack of my credit but who will talk on behalf of Shailendra and Sahir Ludhianvi who are no more Their credits are missing as are those of SD Burman and Madan Mohan This needs to be changedrdquoThe agreement also mentions that a composer and lyricist will have separate contracts with a filmrsquos producer to establish independence of the artistes With the exception of certain leading lyricists the practice so far was that a filmrsquos composer would choose a lyricist and act as the intermediary between the producer and them Shekhar elaborates ldquoNow there will be no middlemen Lyricists and composers will be treated as individual entities A lot of composers are happy with this because they would feel an unnecessary doubt looming on them regarding transparency of feerdquoLooking ahead Bhardwaj wants the two associations to fight for their moral rights ldquoOur derivatives are stolen from us our composition or words are mutilated later For instance Goli maar bheje mein has been remixed for Crazxy and I couldnrsquot do anything about it We arenrsquot even consulted on our song We need to raise this issue so that the moral rights rest with usrdquo he urgesMore say more freedomHussain HaidryHussain Haidry who has penned songs for Sherni 2021 says lyricists are feeling ldquoa sense of reliefrdquo with the MoU He is happy that composers and lyricists as primary artistes will have ownership over their creations and hence greater freedom He explains ldquoThe ownership of lyrics will reside with the lyricist and that of the tune with the composer But the ownership of the song recording would rest with the producer who facilitated the recording So if a music director doesnrsquot like my lyrics he can sell his tune to someone else Similarly I can sell my lyrics to someone else after getting consent from himher But the composite of the two which has been produced by someone cannot be sold by the lyricist or music director alonerdquo