His songs E Mana Mo Mana and Dhana Lo Dhana garnered 10 million views within a few days of release. Certainly, this is no mean feat for lyricist Pramod Kumar Parida who is just a decade old in the industry. Pramod, who has penned songs for hit Odia films like Krishna Govinda, Rock Star and Ram Nam Satya Hai, is also a popular name in the television industry having written scripts for shows such as Jeena ra Jibana Sathi, Hot Seat, Sakhi and Khanti Odia Jhia. Pramod spoke to Orissa POST on how he started writing lyrics and his plans.
Born to Jhunulata and Purusottam Parida, Pramod believes that he is a poet first and then a lyricist. He was drawn towards storybooks and poetry right from childhood. “I relished reading popular Odia magazines. However, it was my school teacher Basant Kumar Bari who drew my attention to poetry. He has a large collection of books and he gave me free access to his library,” says the young poet-lyricist, who feels that one must read a lot before taking to writing.
Pramod owes a lot to Basant for introducing him to the world of poetry. “I started writing poems when I was in college. Soon my work started getting published in popular regional magazines. This gave a boost to my confidence. Although I started writing poems in school, it became a passion when I was in college,” says the alumnus of Balikuda College, Jagatsinghpur.
Gradually, Pramod’s poems started finding a place in college souvenirs, thus increasing his popularity. His classmates would often ask him to recite poems and Pramod would happily oblige. However, academics never took a backseat and he continued to perform well in his exams. Naturally, many were taken by surprise when Pramod took to writing despite successfully completing his graduation in science. “I had always loved writing poems and stories and started devoting more time to that. Since childhood, I have been working hard to get a fine grasp over Odia. It is more difficult to write poetry than learn science,” he says.
Much like poetry, Pramod was attracted towards Odia songs even as a young boy. “I used to listen to Odia songs. Later, I felt that the true flavour of Odia language was missing from most of today’s songs. So, I took to writing lyrics, but the journey wasn’t easy. I came to Cuttack and started meeting music composers with copies of my published works. Finally, I got a call from music composer S Chandrakant, who asked me to write a song for his film, Krishna Govinda. I grabbed the opportunity immediately,” he says. The song went on to become a hit and offers started pouring in for both films and private albums.
Today, Pramod’s songs are a rage on the digital platform and he is happy with the way his career has shaped up. “It gives me immense satisfaction writing soulful tracks. I never thought they would be appreciated so much. I am happy that I have been able to meet the expectations of my fans,” says Pramod, who is an ardent admirer of lyricists Md Nizam, Arun Mantri, Nirmal Nayak and Alekh Biswal.
However, Pramod rues that increasing use of Hindi and English words is robbing Odia songs of their flavour. “I have always been inspired by nature and folk culture. I am a simple guy from Jagatsinghpur and prefer sticking to my roots. That gets reflected in my lyrics also,” he says, adding, “I have quite a few songs up for release on various digital platforms. I am also writing songs for an untitled Odia film, besides considering offers to write scripts for a few short films and television shows.”
SOYONG, OP