Golden Era of Bollywood: Majrooh Sultanpuri-Who wrote songs for heroes from Saigal to Aamir Khan

Majrooh Sultanpuri was the most versatile lyricist in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning half a century, he is the only lyricist who wrote songs for heroes ranging from Saigal to Aamir Khan and leading ladies from Nargis to Madhuri Dixit.
He could write any kind of lyrics tailor-made for the situation in the film. Be it the peppy “Hum hain rahi pyar ke” (Nau Doh Gyarah) or the nonsense lyrics of “C-A-T cat, cat maane billi” (Dilli Ka Thug) to “Aaj main upar aasman neeche” (Khamoshi – The Musical), Majrooh became the undisputed king of the “situational song.He got his first break as a lyricist in A R Kardar’s Shah Jahan in 1945, penning the last classic by K L Saigal “Jab dil hi toot gaya”.
Majrooh Sultanpuri was born Asrar Hussain Khan in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the son of a police constable on October 1,1919. After studying Persian in Aligarh, He then joined Lucknow’s Takmeel-ut-Tib College of the Unani (Greek) System of Medicine. He was an established ‘Hakim’ when he happened to recite one of his ghazals at a mushaira in Sultanpur. The ghazal was extremely well received with the audience and Majrooh decided to drop his prosperous medical practice and begin writing poetry seriously.
When he came to Bombay he got the break in 1946 film Shahajehan starring K L Saigal and the immortal song he wrote in that film was Jab Dil hi Toot Gaya..He subsequently did films like Natak (1947), Doli (1947) and Anjuman (1948) but his major breakthrough was Mehboob Khan’s immortal love triangle, Andaz (1949), with hit songs like Tu Kahe Agar, Jhoom Jhoom ke Naacho Aaj, Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Baithe, Toote na Dil Toote na and Uthaye Ja Unke Situm.
Majrooh Sultanpuri worked with all the top music directors of the day – Anil Biswas, Naushad, Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar, Roshan and Laxmikant Pyarelal, his associations with SD Burman and later were with RD Burman stand out.In fact he introduced R D Burman to Nasir Hussain for Teesri Manzil.
He was part of the formidable quartet of lyricists that ruled Hindi Cinema in the 1950s and early 60s, the others being Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni and Shailendra. Majrooh Saab’s career, spanning over five decades, saw him writing wonderful lyrics for well over 300 films, many of them extremely successful at the box office.

Majrooh Saab was the first film lyricist to be awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his invaluable contribution to Indian Cinema. He has also been a recipient of the Iqbal Samman from the Madhya Pradhesh Government, the Sant Gyaneshwar Puraskar of the Maharashtra Government and an award from the Maharashtra State Urdu Academy for Ghazal, his collection of Urdu Ghazals. But perhaps the biggest injustice to his writing came from Filmfare which awarded him the Best Lyricist Award just once – for Dosti (1964)!He passed away in Mumbai on May 24, 2000. Among the last films he wrote for was the Shah Rukh Khan starrer One Two ka Four released after his death in 2001.

My Fav Songs of Majrooh Sultanpuri