Manoj Muntashir on penning the hard-hitting songs of Emergency, “I have been inspired by Dinkarji when it comes to sarcasm”

By Subhash K. Jha -

January 18, 2025 - 1:06 PM IST

Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency is receiving rave reviews from critics. The film also has an important contribution from Manoj Muntashir who has written the lyrics of the songs in the historical. In an interview with us, he spoke about the process of writing the songs for the film.

Manoj Muntashir on penning the hard-hitting songs of Emergency, “I have been inspired by Dinkarji when it comes to sarcasm”

What was the journey of Emergency like for you?
While writing for Emergency, I had many experiences. This incident of 1975. I am a native of that country, so obviously I have always read about it in newspapers, seen it on television. But this was such a dark page of Indian democracy. The anger of the angry young man that we saw in cinema at that time is still there today and especially during the Emergency period, the entire period was dedicated to poets, litterateurs and writers.

Please elaborate
If you see, the voices of Baba Nagarjun, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Dushyant Kumar were strengthening the entire movement, which was the movement of Jai Prakash Narayanji. I got a chance after almost fifty years to return to those streets. I am completely inspired by these legends.

So, your lyrics are an amalgamation of all these?
While writing for this film, I have been inspired by Dinkarji when it comes to sarcasm. When it came to enthusiasm, to vacate the throne, Dinkarji was in front of me. When it came to sarcasm, to attack the government in a different way, I remembered Baba Nagarjuna who used to say at that time, ‘Induji, Induji what happened? Did you forget yourself in the pleasure of power?’

There is a style and satire of some other level where we are saluting the government for its oppression, its barbarism, its injustice. ‘That wow brother what a thing, how great killing is common, salute to the government. Hit with kicks and shoes, hit, we are sinners, we are sinners, we are stars, we are sinners that we voted for you, this is our sin, you must be punished for this sin, don't look left or right, don't think forward or backward, trample without any fear, take something, become an executioner, what is our value, neither are we bricks nor mortar, we are pieces, we will tear them apart and eat them, salute to the government,’ so we have brought this in our songs. You must have heard the first song which is inspired by an immortal line of Dinkar ji. It is a movement song, how the entire country has come out on the streets, how? Every pillar of democracy is in danger and public anger is at its peak.

This is powerful stuff
There was another song expressing that emotion. You will find the song in the song ‘Bekarariya’. When Indiraji's deeds came back to bite her. What was her state of mind at that time? What was going on in her mind? We tried to approach that. Tried to understand through a song. That song is ‘Bekarariyaan’.

And ‘Shankhnaad Kar’?
The 1971 war, which we were facing from Pakistan, how did our parliament stand with our soldiers in that? To express that for our soldiers, our song is ‘Shankhnaad Kar’. ‘Ye zor se cheedar de zameen aasman phad de, hai khaande’. ‘What? bury him in your chest, tie a shroud for the country, oh brave one, give proof of your bravery today, give your life for your country, for your own life, for your own religion’.

Your favourite song in Emergency?
If you ask about the one special thing and my favourite among all these songs, then ‘Ae meri jaan’, sung by Hariharan, is my favourite song. If you listen to its lyrics, then perhaps your feelings for the country will be awakened, because sometimes I feel that we love the country as a living human being.

When Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji used to say that India is a nation, then his feelings behind calling it a nation must have been very deep. He knew that as long as we consider India as just a triangle drawn on the world map, how will our feelings be needed? As long as we consider India as just a geographical boundary, how will we have an emotional connect with the country? So he said nation, so for me, those lines of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji that Bharat is a nation, inspired by that, I write that ‘Meri jaan mujhe jaan se pyar aaye toh. Khoon jitna hai badan mein main baha doon tujhpe meri jaan mujhe jaan se pyaara hai tu’.

How was it working with Kangana Ranaut?
I would like to say one thing about Kangana Ranaut. This is her second directorial film but she has a great vision. There is a lot of maturity in her thinking and when we were making the music of the film, G V Prakash who has done four songs of the film and Arko who has done one song of the film ‘Meri Jaan’, when she called all of us for the briefing, we always felt that the entire music has been made. It is ringing in her mind. Our job is just to take it out of Kangana's mind and bring it on tape. We digitized it, that is our job.

When a director has so much clarity, then obviously the joy of working in that film is something else. There was not a single moment of confusion in our entire journey. Where we felt that we do not know where to go in this street that we had chosen, we kept moving forward with a lot of confidence.

In other words, a complete album
There are five songs in the film. They go with the pulse of the film. You will not feel that even a single song is unnecessary or that it is hampering the pace of the film. Every song takes the film forward and you see, we have given a musical treatment to the film, so when it will be released in theatres, you will see how it is a Hollywood musical treat where everyone is singing. In this film you will find Jaya Prakash Narayan singing, George Fernandes singing, you will find Atalji singing, you will find all these people singing, you will find Shyam Manik Shah singing, you will find the soldiers of India singing.

Also Read: Manoj Muntashir DEFENDS Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency: “Can’t believe Sikhs got scared of facts”