Accept the world as it literally is and take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. This approach to life and his work makes Rafeeq Ahamed the man he is. Even when you compliment him for his literary conquests as a poet, and talk of him as a most sought-after lyricist of Malayalam film industry, he would break into a laughter, and say, “I never had that intention to become a lyricist, you know...?”
P T Kunjumohammed’s ‘Garshom’ marked his debut as a lyricist. “Till then I was concentrating on poems and was not serious about writing for movies. From my high school classes, I have been writing poems and became very serious about it while in college,” he says.
It was his circle of friends who cajoled him into writing the lyrics for ‘Garshom’. And the song ‘Parayan maranna paribhavangal...’ composed by Ramesh Narayan was lapped up by music lovers. “I had written the lyrics first and then the tune was composed,” Rafeeq says.
After a small gap during which he wrote lyrics for Malayalam serials, Rafeeq again created magic, with the songs of ‘Perumazhakkalam’, composed by M Jayachandran. Works like ‘Out of Syllabus’, ‘Flash’ and ‘Kayyoppu’ followed.
Another song which went straight into the hearts of the listeners was ‘Thattam pidichu valikkalle...’ of ‘Paradesi’, composed by Ramesh Narayan. According to Ramesh Narayan, who has worked with him in four films till now (‘Garshom’, ‘Paradesi’, ‘Adaminte Makan Abu’ and the forthcoming ‘Veeraputhran’), Rafeeq is one writer with a rich vocabulary. “His words can beautifully sketch emotions and situations. On the one side he writes lines loaded with deep thoughts, like ‘Parayan maranna...’, and the same pen also gives you the simple ‘Thattam pidichu...’,” says Ramesh Narayan.
The biggest hit from him is, perhaps, ‘Kizhakku pookkum...’ from ‘Anwar’. “The composer (Gopi Sundar) wanted an oppana song and he had set the tune. When I wrote the lines, I never thought it would be received so much by the people. In fact, I didn’t take much time to write them. The popularity of the song had much to do with the way the song was picturised also,” Rafeeq says.
His other works include those in ‘Thirakkatha’ (‘Paalappoovithalil..’), ‘Ritu’, ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’, ‘Anwar’, Elektra, ‘Elsamma Enna Aankutty’, ‘Sathgamaya’, ‘Urumi’ (‘Chalanam chalanam...), ‘Bhakthajanangalude Sraddhakku’, ‘Bombay March 12’, ‘The Train’ and ‘Violin’.
And he knows for sure that good lyrics alone won’t make a song stand out. “The music, the picturisation, singing... everything count. All said and done, if the movie doesn’t do well in box office, the songs are easily forgotten.” Examples being songs like ‘Oru venalppuzhayil’ (‘Pranayakalam’), songs of ‘My Mothers’ Laptop’ , ‘Ee Kalppadavil...’ (‘Out of Syllabus’) and ‘Mazha njaan arinjilla...’ (‘Dr Patient’), he says.
“I have enjoyed working with some of the promising musicians. Like Bennett-Veetrag (‘Gaddama’, ‘Out of Syllabus’, ‘Dr Patient’), Sreevalsan J Menon (‘My Mother’s Laptop’, ‘T D Dasan Std VI B’) and Bijibal (‘Kerala Cafe’, ‘Salt N Pepper’ and ‘Violin’),” Rafeeq adds.
He prefers writing for melodies and on most occasions listen to the whole story of the movie before sitting down to write the lyrics.
A prolific writer with a number of poetry collections to his credit ( ‘Swapnavangmoolam’, ‘Paarayil Paninjathu’, ‘Aalmara’, ‘Cheettukalikkar’ etc), Rafeeq received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award in 2006 and is also a recipient of many prestigious literary awards.
He is also a three-time State Award Winner for best lyrics (‘Pranayakalam’- 2007, ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’- 2008 and ‘Sadgamaya’- 2010).
A die-hard fan of the works of Vayalar and P Bhaskaran, he is of the opinion that though quality has suffered to some extent, songs have not entirely lost their prominence in the film industry. “Only that you should be ready for some compromises in certain situations,” he says.
But according to composer Bijibal, who has worked with him in ‘Kerala Cafe’, ‘Salt n Pepper’ and ‘Violin’, Rafeeq Ahamed is one lyricist who will never disappoint.
“He has set a benchmark for himself and will never go below that. Therefore you always get works of high quality from him. He never goes for shortcuts and if we can’t ensure quality, he will withdraw from the work by himself. And he has shown the guts to use certain words which most lyricists consider out of fashion. For eg, he showed the confidence to use ‘premam’ instead of ‘pranayam’ in ‘Premikkumbol...’ (‘Salt n’ Pepper’). In a line from the song ‘Chirakuveeshi...’ (Violin), he has used ‘Swapnathinte mukil chirakulloru kappalananjenkil...’ You hear ‘nauka’ instead of ‘kappal’ these days,” Bijibal says.
An employee with ESI Hospital, in Kollam district, Rafeeq, 49, regularly writes for magazines. He has one of his poems ‘Thoramazha’ in Class X textbook
(State syllabus) and is working on his next poetry collection.
A simple soul wedded to his roots in Akkikkavu, in Thrissur district, he asserts, “I was born here, brought up here and want to die here.” His family comprises wife Laila and two children Maneesh and Lasya. Any dreams? “The going has been good so far. Why wish for more? Let things go like this...”