16 September,2010 11:03 AM IST | | avantika.patil
It's his birthday tomorrow but this workaholic adman cum lyricist doesn't think too much of birthdays. Prasoon has a business meeting scheduled in Delhi and plans a quiet dinner with hisu00a0 relatives.
Not one for elaborate celebrations, Prasoon reveals, "As a child, I was never aware of cutting cakes on birthdays, unlike my daughter." Reluctant to reveal his age, Prasoon talks to CS about his love for writing instead
WHO: Prasoon Joshi
WHAT: Talking about the power of words
WHERE: At his office in Parel
Ad-vantage Prasoon
My desire to earn from my pen has kept me going till date. More than a writer, I am a poet at heart and hope to stay one. But convincing parents about a career as a writer wasn't an easy job, so I decided to go to B-school and ended up in advertising.
Since then my advertising and writing has gone hand in hand. In fact, after I entered advertising, I learned to communicate my thoughts more effectively.
Earlier I always wrote for a selective audience who understood literature. But advertising taught me that an ill-received thought was an incomplete one.
It taught me to reach out to people and connect with them.
Read on
Since my parents are trained classical vocalists, I grew up listening to classical music and reading poetry in various languages.
From the time I learnt to read, I've been reading poetry. So I always knew the nuances of writing a poem. Fortunately, whenever I sit to write poetry, all I have to worry about is communicating the thought. The sense of rhythm and meter is inbuilt in me.
When I got a taste of Bollywood music in my twenties, I realised that I had missed a lot.
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In our Indian film industry, literature and song writing merge and that fascinates me. Literature doesn't necessarily have to rhyme for it to be meaningful. Hindi is one language that has helped me in my journey. In fact I think in Hindi.u00a0
Hindi hai hum
Coming from a small town in Uttaranchal, Hindi has always been my forte. When I made an entry into the film and ad world, I could easily connect with the masses. Having said that, the language has undergone great change in Bollywood.
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A lot of people say that the songs nowadays have lost their depth, but I disagree.
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Maybe the language has changed. Rehna Tu from Delhi 6 may not have been relevant 20 years ago but it connects easily today.
Also the trend of English words in Hindi songs is good as long as the English words don't overpower Hindi.
According to me, if two languages come in contact with one another they only enrich each other.
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And what we need to do is retain our heritage and take good things from English without losing the essence of Hindi. I don't think there is anything wrong in enriching our literature without losing its soul.u00a0u00a0u00a0
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