Varun Grover (writer)

Varun Grover
Born	(1980-01-26) 26 January 1980 Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, India
Occupation	Screenplay writer, lyricist, director
Years active	2004–present

Varun Grover (born 26 January 1980) is an Indian comedian, screenwriter and lyricist. He won the award for Best Lyricist at the 63rd National Film Awards (India) 2015-16.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Grover was born in Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, to a school-teacher mother and army engineer father. He spent his initial years in Sundernagar and Dehradun, Uttarakhand, before moving to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh for his adolescent years. He went on to graduate in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU in 2003.^[3]

Career

After briefly working as a software consultant in Pune, he moved to Mumbai in 2004 to become a writer. In 2005 he was one of six staff writers with the TV series The Great Indian Comedy Show. He later moved into stand-up comedy, and works as lyrics writer and screenplay writer for the Hindi film industry.^[4]

He speaks affectionately of the deep impact most mainstream films of the 1990s had on him. He was intensely moved by Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Rajshir Productions superhit musical family drama of 1994 (starring Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan).

"I watched Renuka Shahane die in the film on a Friday. I waited with bated breath until Sunday morning to catch her on Surabhi, the cultural magazine show on Doorsdarshan which she hosted then. When I finally saw her alive, I had tears in my eyes," he recalled.

Grover who grew up in Himachal Pradesh, Dehradun and Lucknow, wrote poetry for friends and for children’s magazines. Later, at BHU, he started scripting plays that the college theatre team took to the national youth festivals. "I’d moved from writing for my diary to writing for stage. It was the first time I felt I had the confidence to write professionally," he said.

When he got a job in Pune, he knew he didn’t want to be an engineer for life and started building contacts with ad agencies, "knowing I’d get paid about one-fourth of what I was being offered at the software job." Owing to his zeal for writing, he quit his job and jumped onto the writing bandwagon without a secure source of income. Owing to his lack of references, initially he struggled to find a writing assignment and finally landed a television serial as one of the co-writers.^[5]

While writing consistently for television shows like Dus Ka Dum, Oye It’s Friday, The Great Indian Comedy Show and others, Grover was waiting for his chance to write for films. "The industry intimidated me earlier," he said. "Either I wasn’t cut out for it then or I wasn’t meeting the right people."

Out of desperation he did sign a film titled Accident on Hill Road, starring Farooq Sheikh and Celina Jaitley, that was released in 2010. "I realized how wrong it was. You just end up having ordinary films on your CV," he said. That is when he decided to step back. His wait ended when Grover connected with Anurag Kashyap through the indie film website Passion for Cinema, and eventually wrote the lyrics for Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots and Gangs of Wasseypur, despite having considered himself to be essentially a scriptwriter. His songs like Womaniya, Hunter and Jiya Tu became chartbusters.

Prose remains Grover’s first love. "Lyrics main dimag se likhta hoon. Kahaani dil se (I write lyrics from the head, scripts from the heart)," he admitted. "I don’t know if that’s right or wrong. A lot of people tell me it shouldn’t be this way. But it works for me."

And perhaps it is his passion to tell a story that works for him even when he writes a song. Sharad Katariya, director of Dum Laga Ke Haisha, whose songs Grover wrote vouched for this.

"In India, our films are known for their music. But in this case, Varun’s words really made the film. Ideas for so many scenes came from his songs. "

For the much-loved Moh Moh Ke Dhaage, he worked on the tune music director Anu Malik had composed, but Katariya said "he took it to another level." The writer clearly has a broad understanding of cinema and art. "When I approached him, he first read the script and gave me feedback as a filmmaker. Then he wrote the songs suited to the milieu and language keeping intact the graph of the characters and the humour of the plot," Katariya said.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

• Won Best Lyrics award at 63rd National Film Awards 2015-16
• Won Best Lyricist award at Zee Cine Awards 2015 ^[8]
• Won Best Lyricist award at Guild Awards 2015 ^[9]
• Nominated for Best Lyricist at 61st Filmfare Awards 2016
• Nominated for Best Raaga-based song for Aayi Bahaar of Ankhon Dekhi at the Mirchi Music Awards 2015
• Nominated for Best Lyrics for Womaniya of Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 at the Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award 2013
• Awarded for Best Screenplay and Best Lyrics for song "Tu Kisi rail si" from movie Masaan at the Stardust Award 2015

References