Kausar Munir Scripts History As First Female Lyricist Ever To Win Filmfare Award

The 67th Filmfare Awards ceremony which concluded at Mumbai's Jio World Convention Centre on Tuesday night honoured some of the best actors, actresses, directors, musicians, and technicians for their excellent work in the Hindi film industry in the past year.

While actor Ranveer Singh won the Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male) award for his cricket drama 83, Kriti Sanon was honoured for her performance in Mimi. However it was lyricist and poet Kausar Munir who scripted history by winning the Filmfare for best lyrics.

Kausar Munir wins Filmfare

Munir, who penned lyrics for 'Lehra Do' in Kabir Khan's directorial 83, won a Filmfare on Tuesday. She has become the first female lyricist ever to win the honour in Filmfare's 67-year-old history.

Munir began her career in television with writing for the television serial Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin. She went on to write Falak Tak for the film Tashan, followed by songs for Ishaqzaade, Ek Tha Tiger, Dhoom 3, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Dear Zindagi.

“The scope of the vocabulary and thought in the poem…this is who I am. I feel that I do not belong to anyone identity, any one location, geography,” Munir said earlier in a panel discussion with SheThePeople.

“It took me the longest time to use the word lyricist for myself,” said Munir. Ishaqzaade was her first complete album. It was a bonafide and a hit album but still, she would find it difficult to say, ‘I am a lyricist.’ She thought that she needs to do more in order to get that label because of the cultural condition and that the onus that the woman needs to prove herself worthy.

“Many of the purists especially men who have come from that “class” will not consider this (Munir’s work) as poems,” she said.

Munir has a witty logic to how the music industry brings gender balance. According to her the music industry in Bollywood is democratic in the sense that it gives grief to men and women equally. One is more valued by their hits and flops. “You may be the ‘womenliest’ woman ever but if you are giving them all the chartbusters, there is no problem,” Munir added.

Suggested Reading: Ye Kavita Abhi Shuru Nahi Hui: In Converastion With Poet Kausar Munir