In a fitting, self-written song released on Thursday, fifteen lyric writers from the Hindi film industry, including Varun Grover, Kausar Munir, Sameer Anjaan, Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya, demanded that they be credited properly for their work on music platforms.
The track titled 'Credit De Do Yaar', penned by Munir, Grover and Kirkire, comes over a week after many songwriters took to Twitter to criticise lack of credits for lyricists on music streaming platforms.
Neelesh Misra, Manoj Muntashir, Mayur Puri, Shellee, Puneet Sharma, Abhiruchi Chand, Hussain Haidry, Raj Shekhar, Anvita Dutt, and Kumaar are also part of the initiative.
The link of the 2 minute 38 second-long video was shared by the lyricists on their social media accounts.
"15 contemporary lyrics writers come together to sing their humble demand - asking for proper credits on music streaming platforms and YouTube channels. #CreditDeDoYaar," tweeted Grover.
Sung by Kirkire, the hook line of the telling song is: "Shabd hee geeton ka hai saar, band karo ye atyachaar. Itna bhi na rude bano ji, humein credit de do yaar (Words are the essence of a song, stop this torture. Don't be so rude, give us our credit)."
At the end of the video, Grover, who has penned songs for films like Masaan, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Gangs of Wasseypur, said the song is a small attempt from their end towards a big issue.
"We are under no false impression that you will remember our faces, but please make sure you remember our names as the whole fight is about the name," he said.
"No matter where you listen to our songs—streaming platforms, apps or on the official YouTube channels of music companies, most of the times it happens that the credit of a lyricist is missing. We just want them to credit us properly wherever they play our songs," he added.
Grover also appealed to the audience to participate with the lyricists in their appeal.
"If you see that the name of a lyricist is missing from a song, please raise your voice," he added.
Composed by Chinmayi Tripathi and Joell Mukherjii, the grey-scale video is edited by Abhishek Bhutwani.
