Here's why lyricist Sameer Anjaan is miffed with 'Animal' makers
Veteran lyricist Sameer Anjaan isn't happy with Animal makers. Whether it's the poster or the pre-teaser clip, the names of the music composer and the lyricist have been missing. Thus, Anjaan has expressed his displeasure. The pre-teaser featuring Ranbir Kapoor had a Punjabi song Dang Khadke in the background, but the video didn't mention the names of composer Manan Bhardwaj or lyricist Bhupinder Babbal.
Why does this story matter?
The pre-teaser was released earlier this week on June 11. The nearly one-minute-long video showed a glimpse of Kapoor axing men masked with golden masks. Since its release, the video has received over 24M views. Animal is one of the highly-anticipated films of Kapoor that will reportedly feature him in a gangster role. It is directed by Kabir Singh director Sandeep Reddy Vanga.
'Ashamed and sad,' said Anjaan on the poster
On the day of the pre-teaser's release, Anjaan took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the makers missing out on the lyricist and the music composer's name in the poster. "I felt ashamed and sad to see this poster, it does not even have the name of the composer and lyricist," he wrote in Hindi in the tweet.
Anjaan questioned why 'Animal' lyricist/music composer was silent
Later, talking to Hindustan Times, Anjaan said he wondered why Animal lyricist/music composer was silent on the issue. "I'm feeling so bad and shameful, that it has come to this. I don't know who the lyricist of the film's songs is, but I don't know why they're not fighting and keeping silent. It has to be done jointly, one person won't be able to."
Anjaan recalled his working agreements over mentioning credits
Speaking more about it, he recalled his work agreements. "I remember Nadeem-Shravan (music composers) and me putting it in our agreements when we worked together, that no poster will be released without our name on it. I don't know why the director and producer don't think it's important to mention the composer and lyricist's name," he told HT.
'I think there's a huge nexus working on this'
Having written songs for numerous films, Anjaan called it an "injustice." "Animal is such a huge film, even the sound recordist's name is there on the poster! How can you do this injustice to the music fraternity? It's not like there'll be no music in the film, which is why they didn't put the names. I think there's a huge nexus working on this."
He now plans to meet other lyricists to raise issue
Anjaan also said that he wants to call for a meeting of lyricists to address the issue. "This is really bad. I am going to call a meeting with all leading composers and writers, and going to tell them to please raise their voice otherwise they will not get their due credit." Anjaan is credited for writing the lyrics for over 400 Hindi songs.
