The pen can fire like a gun: Irshad Kamil opens up on Besharam Rang

When a poet speaks, he talks of rebellion and love. He also speaks of the society around him. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics have delved into all of these, and more. It is unlikely that an interaction with such a multi-dimensional writer remains untouched by the mention of a controversy surrounding a song. 

“You cannot judge a 3-hour-long movie on the basis of a 3-minute clip. It is the flight of a writer’s, filmmaker’s, and poet’s imagination. You cannot boycott their imagination,” he said, defending the filmmaker’s creative licence.

Kamil was speaking on the penultimate day of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2023, where he was handed the Dwarka Prasad Agarwal Award 2023. The song in question was Besharam Rang from the upcoming movie Pathaan, which had upset the saffron brigade, leading to a boycott call for the film. Actor Deepika Padukone’s orange swimsuit in the song upset critics, with the #BoycottBollywood hashtag trending on social media for quite some time. 

The controversy had even forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to react. At a meeting of  BJP’s National Executive on January 19, the PM had asked party leaders and workers to abstain from making unnecessary remarks about movies.

At the same time, Kamil also spoke about how the power of the pen was a huge responsibility. “Kalam is tarah ki cheez hai jo bandook ki tarah bhi chal sakti hai, toh kalam zimmedari se pakden (the pen is such a thing that can fire like a gun; hold it with responsibility),” he said, addressing the audience. 

“Back home in Malerkotla, we used to play a game as children. One of us would say ‘chidiya udd,’ and all the others would say ‘chidiya udd.’ Somewhere in the midst of it, someone would switch to ‘car udd,’ and all the kids would follow suit to say ‘car udd.’ That is how a boycott call works,” he continued. 

Referring to Kamil’s fiery words being in stark contrast with his gentle demeanour, the moderator asked which one of these was the person who sat on stage facing the audience.  “Which is the real Irshad Kamil? The one who has written a song like O Nadaan Parindey, or the one who is speaking here today?”

Kamil’s answer was as versatile as his poetry. “I am the same person who wrote Tune maari Entriyaan toh dil mein baji ghanti, Baby ko bass pasand hai, and Nadaan Parindey. Ye bhi Kamil hai, wo bhi Kamil hai, aur wo bhi, sab Kamil hi hain (This one is Kamil, and that one, and the other one too. All of these individuals are Kamil).” 

In response, Kamil explained the context of the song from Sultan. “The protagonist is a wrestler from Haryana. That is the language he would speak. He wouldn’t recite deep Urdu shayari for his beloved,” Kamil said, ending the thought with an Urdu couplet. “He wouldn’t recite that. He would say ‘Baby ko bass pasand hai.’ I speak the language of the actor. I write as he would talk, or sing,” Kamil said.