Kausar Munir, Lyricist: Be Yourself, Even In A Man’s World

Everyone asks me if it is hard being the only female lyricist in Bollywood. Of course it is hard. But it is only as hard as it would be for a man to walk in heels. It’s not impossible, it’s just a mindset that needs to be broken. Women tend to steer clear of Bollywood. That’s why we have just one music composer, Sneha Khanwalkar, as opposed to at least 20 dudes with a sound mixer. And then there is me, a female lyricist with no formal training in Urdu.

My struggle, if I can call my experiences a struggle, started after I started penning words for songs. I had never planned on being a bard. I used to write for shows like Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. One evening the scriptwriter of Jassi…, Victor [Vijay Krishna Acharaya] asked me to write a song for his film, Tashan. And I wrote Falak tak chal, which was a hit. After that, Habib Faisal asked me to pen a song for Ishaqzaade. I wrote the songs and everyone loved them. Words like Pareshaan and Ishaqzaade caught on and people wanted to know who the bespectacled girl was. That is when my struggle actually began.



Until then, I was quietly writing songs in a corner and was no threat to anyone in the industry. But after songs like Saiyaara and Mashallah from Ek Tha Tiger, I came to be seen as the female lyricist who disrupted the male bastion. The songs became a dead albatross around my neck – filmmakers wanted me to come up with a new cool Urdu word for every song. It put me under tremendous pressure. Plus, the expectations of being a woman lyricist were mounting. Suddenly I had become a postergirl for gender equality! I don’t know who put that responsibility on my shoulder but I think it’s the women themselves.

Now I’ve realised that to survive in a man’s world, you have to be a woman. Women are better listeners and understand briefs better. Being myself worked in my favour. And it will work in yours too.

Scorecard
1 Be a strong woman and know that gender has nothing to do with competence. You have to believe that you are as good as anyone else on the job.
2 Even if someone plays gender politics, ignore them. The right people will notice you at the right time. 
3 Never hold grudges against people who doubted you. Grudges will only pull you down.
4 Remember that you will start small, but keep at it. Don't give up.

Ram Sampath, Composer: Stand Up For Yourself, Even If You Are Standing Up To A Bully

The night I decided to challenge the Roshans, I knew that life was going to be tough. After all, I was just another music composer. But I decided to take the Roshans to court for stealing my intellectual property – an ad jingle I had done for Sony Ericsson, which they used in their movie, Krazzy 4. Was I nervous? Hell yeah, who wouldn’t be?

News spread. Suddenly I was the bad guy trying to make money off the big guys. They had industry backing, I just had my conviction and Sona [Mohapatra, his wife] by my side. She held my hand through that phase and gave me the support that I needed to tell the world that even a small fry like me can take on the mighty guys.

 

The time I challenged them in court was also the time I was trying to break into Bollywood. Ninety per cent of the people told me that I was insane. That no one would want to work with me. And that happened. I was out of work – from my primary income, advertising and Bollywood. Yes, I was jobless; yes, I was broke; yes, I was angry; but no, I was not going to give up. Things happen for a reason. So I decided to treat my joblessness like a mini vacation.

I won my case, but rejection had become a part of life. People didn’t want to jinx their films by working with me. I scored and composed music for four films but all of them got shelved. I hit rock bottom. Then out of the blue, Delhi Belly happened. Abhinay [Deo] insisted that I compose music for his film. Delhi Belly was supposed to be a one-song film but once I read the script and knew that it had scope for more. I took a year to write music for it and when Aamir heard it, he loved it! That was the turning point for me.

Even today, I am not the most loved person in Bollywood. But I trust my work and my instincts. And you should too. Everyone will not love you, but you will be surrounded by people who care for you.

Scorecard
1 You have to learn to stand up for yourself because if you don’t, no one else will.
2 Have faith in the system and believe in yourself. Justice might take some time, but don’t lose patience.
3 Build a support system. Because there will be days when your resolve will break, that is when their resolve will hold you in good stead.
4 Find humour in everything. It makes life simple.
5 Don’t get angry. Get even!

Mohit Chauhan, Singer: Think Big. Don’t Settle For Second-Best

A  lmost 10 years ago, in the dead of the night, my landline rang. I answered, dazed. The man on the other end told me that I needed to fly to Chennai at 10am that morning. I asked him why. He said, “Didn’t you hear me? I am calling from A R Rahman’s music studio.” I could not believe what had happened. It didn’t sink in for the longest time that Rahman sir wanted to see me. I’d waited some five years for that  call.

I met A R Rahman for the first time when my band, Silk Route, shot to fame in 1998. He very casually walked up to me at an award ceremony and said that he might want to work with me in the future. And so, my wait began.

Every day, I hoped to hear from the man but no call came. I started touring with my band but I never forgot that short conversation. After our second album, Pehchaan released, I started getting impatient because I was getting playback offers from other composers. I rejected most of them. People told me I was being foolish by waiting for a call that might not come, ever; that I should take whatever comes my way because getting a break in Bollywood is not easy. But I was adamant.

And so the impatience grew. Silk Route disbanded. I needed work. But I made one wise decision, I did not shift from Delhi to Mumbai because being jobless in the city unnerved me.

And then, it happened. I got that call. I went to Chennai. I sang a song for him. Rang De Basanti released and Khoon Chala was a hit. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know who I was. And now, looking back, wasn’t that the right decision? Sir gave me Rockstar next, and my career just took off. Now people recognise my voice even on the radio. It’s quite unbelievable for a small-town man like me.
 
Yes, it took me over a decade to get to where I have, but I didn’t compromise on it. I have been selective of my work and look where it got me! Every night I thank my gut that always told me that you will get the call.

Scorecard
1 People will always tell you to take the easy way out. Never take it. Work hard and be patient.
2 Complacency is your enemy and never get too comfortable. Be on your toes.
3 Times change and your time will also come. But don’t sit doing nothing and leave it to destiny. Work towards achieving your destiny.
4 Don’t get disheartened by criticism.
5 You will make mistakes. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Richa Chaddha, Actor: Don’t Try To Please Everyone

I  was always certain of one thing – I wanted to act. And I did everything that I needed to do to be good at my craft: theatre, workshops, modelling, knocking on every door and waiting for it to open.

And I also heard it all – sweet talk, criticism and unwanted advice. People told me to get a boob job, get rhinoplasty, lose weight and be more “presentable”. I was told to fit the “Bollywood” template by almost everyone. And for a while, I did try and mould myself to everybody’s expectations. But nothing came of it. I faced rejection left, right and centre for months and years.

I don’t belong to Mumbai. I don’t come from a family that has any inclination towards glamour or Bollywood. My mum’s a professor at Delhi University and my dad is a management consultant. Nothing in my background could really prepare me for the kind of rejection and emotional turmoil that I was going through. So all I could do was to hope. And hope is what I stuck to. I continued doing theatre with Barry John, who thankfully had moved to Mumbai and it was while performing in one of his plays that a flicker of hope called Dibakar Banerjee came in.

Dibakar was a small-time director scouting around for a fresh face for a small role in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. He was just one film old but was talked-about. I was signed on. The movie became a hit. I was noticed but that didn’t mean anything. Small, inconsequential roles were all I was offered, if at all. I auditioned for Dev.D. Anurag Kashyap loved it but signed Kalki Koechlin instead! A filmmaker friend signed me for his new film, told me to block my dates and gave me the script to prepare. I was raring to go when, just two days before the shoot was to begin, he told me I was being replaced because I wasn’t “glamourous enough”.

I wallowed for days, cried, cribbed but couldn’t give up! The rejections made me realise one thing: that whatever I did, I wouldn’t be able to make everybody happy. I would just lose myself trying to be someone else. So I focused on what was my best asset. My talent as an actress. I did plays, workshops, travelled to Chennai and Pondicherry and joined Theatre Professionals to hone my skill. Then, two years after Oye Lucky…, Anurag called me to do Gangs Of Wasseypur. And yes, it has changed my life. But after a smash hit, awards and all the glory, the struggle continues.

I still face rejection. In fact, it happened early this year. But now I too can reject offers. I am not going to compromise or change just to please somebody or everybody. That is my vindication.
– As told to Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi
Scorecard
1 Be happy in your skin. Don’t try to be someone else or you’ll lose yourself.
2 Know your goals and never lose your focus.
3 You may be criticised and rejected. Cry and crib but don’t lose hope.
4 Keep working towards your goal. Do everything that you have to hone your skills.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Actor: There Will Be Trouble Ahead. Stay Strong, Stay Focused

The first day I cried in Mumbai was when I didn’t have a single paisa in my pocket and took R50 from a friend. It was not the first time I was penniless and it was definitely not the first time I was borrowing money. But that night, as I pocketed that crumpled note, I began to cry. Five years in Mumbai and I was still homeless, penniless and completely out of work. There was not a friend left in the city I had not borrowed from.

I belong to a family of farmers from Budhana, UP. Ninety people  would live in one house and I have seen the darkest days of poverty. So not eating for a day or two or three was never a problem. That was never my struggle. In Delhi, while practicing theatre, I worked as a watchman. Life was tough then but I was always driven to follow my dream – acting.

I moved to Mumbai with R3,000, a packet of biscuits and the assumption that I had friends there to bank on. I reached one friend’s house and tried to give him a hug. He shrugged me off and said, “Rent ka paisa?” That day I realised that in this industry, your friends are also not your friends. I remember begging another friend to let me stay at his room. He said yes and asked me to be his cook. I didn’t mind the job till the day I realised that I wasn’t struggling to be an actor. I was struggling just to stay alive. I moved out of his house with rock-solid determination that day. I was going to make it, I told myself. But unlike in a movie where the hero’s life changes in minutes, mine didn’t. That night, I just went to another friend’s house for shelter.

In some way, you can call my life a comedy of errors. When I got my first break in Sarfarosh (1999), I was asked to be on-set at 7am at Filmistan. I woke up at 4.30am and walked from Four Bungalows to Film City [easily 15 kilometres] in my chappals. I reached by 6.30am, only to realise I was at the wrong set. I ran again from Film City to Filmistan because I had no money to even take the bus. I didn’t get another movie for years. 

Yes, life is terrifyingly difficult sometimes. There were many times when I wanted to leave. But where could I go? I had to make it. The only other choice was to die in oblivion and that I wasn’t going to do. I did so many odd roles – dacoit informer in Jungle, a waiter in Shool, a pickpocket in Munna Bhai MBBS and a local goon in Ek Chalis Ki Last Local. I took roles just to survive another month. But I never gave up. I just wanted to succeed.

My 12 years of struggle ended with Kahaani. Suddenly I was famous. People would recognise me; my name now had some weight. The last scene in Gangs of Wasseypur, where I shoot Tigmanshu’s [Dhulia] character was the culmination of my struggle. When I was enacting that scene, what I saw in front of me were the 12 years – the hunger, rejection, disgrace and tears – and I fired countless rounds. That smirk on Faisal Khan’s face was in fact Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s arrival.
Scorecard
1 Don’t leave anything to destiny – find a way to chart out your own destiny. Rewrite it if you have to.
2 Everyone struggles. So don’t take it personally. Just work hard and hope that you meet the right people at the right time.
3 Rejection is a part of life. Don’t let it bog you down.  Find a way to deal with it.
4 Drop your ego. It will only give you more pain.
5 Once you succeed, remember how hard you worked to get there. That will motivate you and also keep you grounded.

Karbonn Titanium S9
    The Titanium S9 is a device that’s packed with just that little-bit extra to make it stand out from the other handsets in its price range. It comes with a 5.5-inch, 16-million-colour display, a whopper 13MP main camera, a 5MP front shooter, and is equipped with 16GB internal memory.  



Specs: 5.5-inch HD IPS (1280x720px) screen | 1.2GHz quad-core processor | 1 GB RAM | 16GB internal memory, microSD expandable up to 32 GB | Dual SIM (3G+2G) | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi | 13 MP autofocus rear camera with flash, 5MP front camera | 2600mAh battery | Android Jelly Bean (4.2)  

Website: www.karbonnmobiles.com 

Price: 19,990

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom  

Is it a phone or is it a camera? The Galaxy S4 Zoom is equipped with a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, complete with a 10x optical zoom and a built-in Optical Image Stabilizer. In effect, what you get is a smartphone that will put most point-and-shoot cameras to shame. The handset sports what Samsung calls the Zoom Ring that activates its In-Call Photo Share feature, letting users capture and send an image directly via MMS to whoever he/she is talking to. This apparatus can also be used to activate the Quick Launch and Shortcut features, giving users instant access to multiple camera modes including Auto, Gallery and Smart Mode with a simple twist. And yes, you also have a Mali-400 GPU purring under the hood.  


Specs: 4.3-inch Super AMOLED (960x540px) screen | 1.5GHz dual-core processor | 1.5GB RAM | 8GB internal memory, microSD expandable up to 32 GB | micro-SIM | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB on-the-go | 16MP autofocus rear camera with Xenon flash, 1.9MP front camera | 2330mAh battery | Android Jelly Bean (4.2.2)  

Website: www.samsung.com  

Price: Rs. 29,900

Brother HL-1111
    Those looking for a printer for home use might want to consider the HL-1111 that’s capable of printing 20 pages per minute. It comes with a Toner Saver mode, along with features that allow users to print the time and date – as well as watermarks – on documents. Users can also use its ‘Poster Printing’ mode that combines 4, 9, 16 or 25 A4-size pages to create a composite whole image.  



Specs: Monochrome Laser | 600dpi | 20 pages per minute | 1,500 pages per toner | Windows, Mac compatible | Takes up to 150 pages of A4-, Letter-, Legal- or Folio-sized paper as input.  

Website: www.brother.in  

Price: Rs.5,000

Are there any rugged, all-season, point-and-shoot cameras available in India?

I’m looking for a waterproof camera that can be used on holidays and on treks. 


 
    Depending on your budget, you can choose from any of the following products… 

l Nikon Coolpix S31 ( 5,800): 5m waterproof, 1.2m shockproof | 10-megapixel CCD sensor | 35mm, 3x optical zoom lens | ISO 80-1600 | Modes: close up, continuous shooting, diorama effect, fireworks show, food, interval shooting, mirror, underwater, soft | HD (1280x720px, 30fps) video recording | Electronic Vibration Reduction | 2.7-inch TFT LCD screen with anti-reflection coating | Lithium-ion battery, 260 shots CIPA standard. l Panasonic 

LUMIX DMC-FT20 ( 12,990): Freezeproof, dustproof, 5m waterproof, 1.5m shockproof | 16-megapixel CCD sensor | 25mm wide-angle, 4x optical zoom lens | ISO 100-1600 | Modes: portrait, soft skin, scenery, panorama, night portrait, night scenery, food, baby portrait, pet portrait, sunset, high sensitivity | HD (1280x720px, 30fps) video recording | Optical image stabilizer | 2.7-inch TFT LCD screen with anti-reflection coating | Lithium-ion battery, 250 shots CIPA standard. l 

Nikon Coolpix AW110 ( 15,500): Dustproof, 18m waterproof, 2m shockproof | 16-megapixel CMOS sensor | 35mm, 5x optical zoom lens | ISO 125-1600 | Modes: back light, beach, black and white copy, close up, dusk/dawn, panorama, fireworks, food, landscape, museum, night landscape, night portrait, party/indoor, pet portrait, scene auto selector, snow, sunset, 3D photography, underwater | FullHD (1920x1080px, 30fps) video recording | Vibration and motion blur reduction | 3-inch OLED screen with anti-reflection coating | Lithium-ion battery, 250 shots CIPA standard.

Could you please suggest a good web cam for Skype on a desktop PC?
    If you’re willing to spend for a premium product, then we’d suggest the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 ( 6,000), the Logitech HD Webcam C615 ( 4,800), the Microsoft LifeCam Studio ( 5,500), or the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema ( 5,000). 

 
    Both Logitech models and the Microsoft LifeCam Studio are capable of 1920x1080 video resolutions, while the LifeCam Cinema does a maximum of 1280x720.
    All four devices come with autofocus, light-correcting technology, echo and noise reduction microphones, as well as face-tracking technology that keeps the focus on your face during video chats.
    Now if you’ll also be using the cam to record videos, then it’ll help to know the Logitech Pro C920 is the only device from these that can record 30fps videos at FullHD 1080p resolution. The other three will also give you 30fps, but only in HD 720p.
    That said, if you’re looking for budget alternatives, you could consider the Logitech C310 HD Webcam ( 1,650) and Creative Live! Cam Socialize HD Webcam ( 1,500). Both these models come with a built-in microphone and support video capture in 1280x720 resolution. Although, it should be noted that the latter comes with a fixed focus.