smooth sailing Judy Lowrie from Canada shows the participants of a skating camp at Clown Town how to stay grounded even when in flight on skates. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Words to visuals

nSome of the best lyricists flourished in the Hindi film industry in the 50s and 60s, opined Javed Akhtar at an interactive seminar on ?Urdu Poets and Hindi Cinema? at KP Basu Memorial Hall, in Jadavpur University (JU), on January 16.

The seminar was organised by the department of film studies of the university.

Akhtar recited some of his well-known creations like Uljhan and Banjaara at the session. Programme coordinator Sangita Dutta translated the works to English and Bengali.

During the interaction, Akhtar regretted that the film industry is now lacking in quality scriptwriters and lyricists. He also reminded the audience that film and music buffs shared the responsibility of appreciating only the genuinely good creations and being critical of the sub-standard ones.

Upholding the importance of a good script and content in a film, he cited the likes of lyricists Sailendra and Kaifi Azmi. Though considerable technological developments have swept the industry, the creative standards have deteriorated, he added. The main reason behind the mindless dialogues in many films, Akhtar felt, is the weak vocabulary of the writers and their neglect of literature. Expressing his approval of remakes, he emphasised that even they need to be produced with more finesse.

Clippings of Sholay, Deewar, 1942 A Love Story and Lagaan were screened at the programme, which lasted for two hours.

Diganta Biswas,

Mass communication, JU