He chose words over digits

Gurnaaz Kaur

His poem Hindustani Musalman turned him into a star overnight. Thanks to Internet and social media where it went viral. His poem, about seeking identity in a country with a religious diversity, resonated with many. This was just the beginning, the beginning of a CA turning into a poet. In no time, he became a lyricist.

We are talking about Hussain Haidry, who has written lyrics for three films Gurgaon, Qarib Qarib Singlle and Mukkabaaz. He was born in Indore where he attended school. Then he became a chartered accountant and worked in Mumbai for some years. He later decided to do an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore. He worked as the head of finance at a company in Kolkata. 

So, from a high-paying job to opting for days of struggle in Mumbai, what must have been the motivation? “I somewhat started writing during the days I spent in Mumbai after completing CA. Then, in Kolkata I thought maybe this is like the glass ceiling and everything else in my life would only be higher in scale in terms of finance and accounts, so I thought I’ll probably try something for five years and if I fail, I’ll come back to my corporate job. That something was writing and it got me back to Mumbai,” says Hussain.

It’s only been two years since to his experiment and he has bagged three films. “Gazal Dhaliwal and Varun Grover, who have been my friends since my open mic days in Mumbai back in 2010, helped me a lot. When I came back to Mumbai in 2016, I felt that I had lost my knack of writing poetry and that I needed sometime and maybe some lessons to be able to write lyrics. But they showed confidence in me and things turned around for good,” he tells.

So, his wish to become a lyricist and screenwriter has come true. But this poet says it is work in progress. Hussain’s version is, “You know, you are never quite there. In a situation like this, where you have to tell whether you have made it or not, I feel there is no zero and one, there is always an in-between.”

This poet appreciates open mics and jam sessions for budding artistes, but he agrees there is a flip side too. “The good part is that a lot of young people gravitate towards writing, if not completely at least as a passionate hobby, as a source of recreation. They get more aware, they read, they find the courage to share their stories. But the bad part is that most young people who are trying to write don’t read much. And, I feel you can’t write if you don’t read a lot. In any kind of art form that you would like to pursue in life, you would need a lot of technical know-how and a lot of practice. It’s not like you just go up and do it,” he exclaims. 

A voracious reader himself, using a simile to highlight the need for practice to become perfect, Hussain continues, “There is nobody who has sat down and written a 1,000-page novel and it has become a bestseller. Even the best of writers have written short stories first. That is the practice element. The writers would know a lot about history, a lot about the literature before them. I think that’s not a great part of this movement, people don’t understand that it is not an audio-to-audio learning. You don’t listen and learn; basically, you read, you think, then you write and then you speak, so that’s the process and that’s amiss at times.”

gurnaaz@tribunemail.com