Manoj Muntashir Biography – an Indian Lyricist, Poet, and Dialogue Writer

Manoj Shukla (born 27 February 1976), better known by his stage name Manoj Shukla Muntashir, is an Indian lyricist, poet, dialogue writer, and screenwriter. He wrote several successful Hindi songs for films. These have included “Teri Mitti”, “Galliyan”, “Tere Sang Yaara”, “Kaun Tujhe”, “Dil Meri Na Sune”, “Kaise Hua”, “Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga”, Baahubali: The Beginning, and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.

Early life (Manoj Muntashir Biography)

Manoj was born on 27 February 1976 as Manoj Shukla into a farming family in Gauriganj, Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, India, where he attended a HAL School Korwa. After graduating from Allahabad University in 1999 he moved to Mumbai to seek work and subsequently entered the TV and film scene following an opportunity to write for Kaun Banega Crorepati. He is married to Neelam Shukla and they have a son.

Career

Muntashir has written the lyrics of several Hindi film songs including “Galliyan” from Ek Villain, “Tere Sang Yaara” from Rustom, “Kaun Tujhe” from M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story, and “Dil Meri Na Sune” from the film “Genius”. He Has Worked With Talented Artist Like M. M. Keeravani, Arijit Singh, Ankit Tiwari, Jubin Nautiyal, Amaal Malik, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, B Praak, Rochak Kohli, Himesh Reshammiya and many more.

He has voiced concerns with regard to acknowledgments to song and scriptwriters. His lyrics to “Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga” (2017), a song that registered more than four million views through unofficial versions prior to its official release, were originally compiled for his wife in 2001. When he failed to receive acknowledgment for the song, he voiced that he didn’t “know why certain people can’t accept an age-old fact that lyricists have an equal amount of contribution in making a song successful”. Following a nomination for the 2020 Filmfare award for best lyrics for the song ‘Teri Mitti‘ from the 2019 film Kesari, he tweeted his disappointment when the award went to someone else. He has won National Film Awards for best lyrics in Saina (film).

He has written scripts for India’s Got Talent and Indian Idol Junior. Muntashir wrote the Hindi dialogues for Baahubali 2, dubbing the words in Hindi to match the lip movements which spoken in Telugu. Later, he was commissioned to do the same for the Hollywood film, Black Panther.

He published a book titled Meri Fitrat Hai Mastana.

Controversy

He wrote the dialogues of Om Raut‘s film Adipurush. The dialogues of the film were criticised for being too flippant or unserious, and containing modern-day slang and lingo in a setting from centuries ago. Lines like ‘jalegi tere baap ki’, ‘teri bua ka bageecha hai kya’, and ‘Lanka laga denge’ being uttered by mythological figures with religious significance did not go down well with a large section of the viewers.

One of the lines in the movie, which refers to Sita as “Bharat ki beti,” has caused anger among the people of Nepal. This is because Sita is believed to have been born in Janakpur, which is located in present-day Nepal. Although the filmmakers agreed to remove that particular dialogue from the movie, another inaccurate statement about the sovereignty of Nepal has further infuriated the Nepalese people. In an interview on Aaj Tak, Manoj attempted to dismiss the claims of the Nepalese people by incorrectly stating that Nepal was a part of “Bharat” until 1904 and mentioned that it separated from “Bharat“. Manoj has been accused of misrepresenting historical facts, leading to calls for a ban on all Hindi movies in Nepal.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi criticized the makers for allegedly using “pedestrian dialogues” in the film. She also demanded an apology from the film’s makers and said that the dialogues were disrespectful to the characters of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Similarly, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel alleged that dialogues in the film are “objectionable and indecent” and questioned the “silence” of political parties which call themselves the custodian of religion, an apparent jibe at the BJP. When asked by reporters whether the state government will ban this movie, Baghel said, “The government will think about it (ban) if people will raise a demand in this direction”.

Responding to the criticism, he defended his work. In an interview with Republic World, he said, “It is not an error. It is a very meticulous thought process that has gone into writing the dialogues for Bajrang Bali and for all the characters. We have made it simple because we have to understand one thing if there are multiple characters in a film, all cannot speak the same language. There has to be a kind of diversion, a kind of division.”

Muntashir also mentioned, “Humare yahan daadiyan, naniyan jab Ramayan ki kathaye sunati thi, jo isi bhaasha mein sunaati thi. Yeh dialogue jiska aapne zikar kiya, yeh iss desh ke sant, bade bade katha vachak aisi hi bolte hai jaise maine likha hai (When our grandmothers narrated the tales of Ramayana, they used this language. In the dialogue that you mentioned, priests and narrators used to say that in the same way I have written. I’m not the first one to write this dialogue, it’s already there).”

However, later he announced that it has been decided that some lines of the dialogue in the film would be altered. In a statement on Twitter, he concluded, “I can give countless arguments in favor of my dialogues, but this will not reduce your pain. I and the producer-director of the film have decided that some of the dialogue which is hurting you, We’ll revise them, and they’ll be added to the film this week. May Shri Ram bless you all!”

Awards and nominations (Manoj Muntashir Biography)

Discography (Manoj Muntashir Biography)

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