Golden Era of Bollywood: Anand Bakshi

Saturday 21 July 2018

Anand Bakshi - The Juggler of Words

Over 3500 songs in  638 films in his career over five decades, he was the most vibrant lyricist that the industry has witnessed. The beauty of Bakshi’s mesmerising lyrics was that it retained its currency till he lived in the first decade of the new millennium.He was a master wordsmith.His contribution to the rhythmic songs of the golden era of Hindi cinema, which began in the 1950s and lasted till the mid-1970s will be noticed among the dozen odd top lyricists.
He 6.was born in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan, on 21 July 1930 He  was fond of writing poetry since his youth, but he did this mostly as a private hobby. He worked in the Army for many years and simultaneously tried to market his songs in the Mumbai film world.Took voluntary discharge from the Army, E.M.E.  on 27-8-1956, at Lucknow.Arrived in Bombay to find work in films as a singer and or lyricist in Oct. 1956.
He got his break writing songs in a Brij Mohan film titled Bhalaa Aadmi (1958), acted by Bhagwan Dada. He wrote four songs in this film. His first song in this film was "Dharti Ke Laal Na Kar Itna Malaal" which was recorded on 9 Nov 1956.he first found success in 1962 with Mehendi Lagi Mere Haath, which was produced by (LimeLight), Music by Kalyanji & Anandji,  He got his real big breakthroughs in 1965 with Himalay Ki God Mein, and a huge breakthrough again in 1965 with the super-hit film Jab Jab Phool Khile, starring Shashi Kapoor;and in 1967 film Milan
He found great popularity with films like Amar Prem, Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony, Ek Duuje Ke Liye and many more through the ’70s. He went on to work with renowned directors like Dev Anand,Raj Kapoor, Subhash Ghai and Yash Chopra and wrote the lyrics for Hare Rama Hare Krishna,Bobby, Taal, Yaadein and Dil Toh Paagal Hai among others. Mention must be made about Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ, 1995).
Sahir Ludhianvi taught him how to weave poetry into lyrics. He even introduced him to producers. Once he even asked Yashji (Chopra) to try him as a lyricist. But he wrote for Yashji’s Chandni (1989) only after Sahir saab passed away.
He was associated with music composers such as Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R D Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, SD Burman, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan and Anand-Milind, and his songs have been sung by all the top singers as well as other singers such as Shamshad Begum, Ila Arun, Khursheed Bawra, Amirbai Karnataki, Sudha Malhotra and more. He is known to have worked with more than one generation of music composers.He wrote the first recorded songs of many first time male and female leads who went on to become stars, and also of singers such as Shailendra Singh, Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy etc
His jodi with Laxmikant Pyarelal was very popular They worked together in more than 220 films.First time he was associated with L P was in 1964 film Mr X In Bombay,the song Mere Mehboob Qyamat Hogi sung by Kishore kumar became very popular.The next film worked together was Lootera in 1965.

After L P,the other composer was R D Burman with whom he did maximum films.Their first film was Teesra Kaun in 1965.
Anand Bakshi wrote for five decades, watching the windmill of time roll over and over. New actors replaced old ones, his close buddies like Kishore Kumar, Pancham and Laxmikant left for the heavens even as he watched helplessly. But Anand Bakshi’s gallery of fame kept gathering up successes like Hum, Darr, Lamhe, Mohra, DDLJ and Dil to Pagal Hai, as he kept adjusting his stance with the changing time.He stayed young and kept his screen heroes and heroines even younger.
Late in his life, he suffered from heart and lung disease as a consequence of lifelong smoking. In March 2002, he caught a bacterial infection at Nanavati hospital during a minor heart surgery. He finally died of multiple organ failure on 30 March 2002, 8:00 PM at Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital, at the age of 72. The last released movie with lyrics by Anand Bakshi (after his death) was Mehbooba.