FILM LYRICIST … BAKSHI ANAND PRAKASH OR ANAND BAKSHI ( 1930- 2002)..... KASHMIR CONNECTION
" Tu kaun hai ? Tera naam hai kya ?
Sita bhi yahaan badnaam huyi,
Phir kyon sansaar ki baton se ,Bheeg gaye tere naina ,
……Kuchh to log kahenge , logon ka kaam hao kehna"
( Anand Bakshi )
Anand Bakshi comes from a family of police and army officers . His grandfather was Superintendent of Police in Rawalpindi and his father served the army. As a child , he hated studies and would run away from school to see films. At times , when he had no money he would sell his books to watch films.
Anand Bakshi's ancestors were Hussaini Brahmins from Kashmir (POK) who moved to Rawalpindi .His mother died when he was in his teens .Bakshis were well off in Rawalpindi . Partition created many miseries for the family .
Anand Bakshi's mother, Sumitra , died in 1940, when he was barely ten . The family migrated to India (Delhi) on 2 October 1947 and moved to Delhi , Lucknow and then again to Delhi .He joined Indian Army ( signals Corps EME ) for six years and finally moved to Mumbai in 1956. He had to struggle tooth and nail to survive but all attempts were futile and he was compelled to move back and join the army again. However, his heart wandered in Bollywood. His friends suggested that he should focus on his job and stop dreaming. Not giving it up, Bakshi again left his army job and moved to Mumbai. This time luck was in his favour. He was destined to become a lyricist in Bollywood. And he did become.
He Must have written about 3500 songs in total . He worked with every singer , every composer and almost with every production House . Some people had issues with his songs but at a point of time , every alternate person in India used to sing songs that he penned .
As lyricist , he had versatility and range . He wrote hilarious , sentimental , moody , romantic and patriotic songs . He wrote beautiful Bhajans . He also wrote some Qawaalis that touched heights of popularity .
Songs that he composed for Aradhana , Do Raaste , Milan , Aaya sawan Jhoom Ke ,Kati Patang ,Hare Rama Hare Krishna ,Bobby , Amar Prem and many more films touched all time heights of popularity .
Adds his son Rakesh Anand Bakshi :-
“ Dad looked up to Bismil Saeedi, editor of the Urdu magazine Biswin Sadi. Bismil saab would often tell dad, “You don’t know Persian but your phrases have the language’s lilt.” Sahir Ludhianvi taught dad how to weave poetry into lyrics. He even introduced him to producers. Once he even asked Yash Ji (Chopra) to try dad as a lyricist. But dad wrote for Yash Ji’s Chandni (1989) only after Sahir Saab passed away. Dad enjoyed Mirza Ghalib’s poetry as much as listening to folk songs. Another passion was cars. He changed his cars every two years. His first car was a 1964 Fiat model. He’d change his house every few years too. He enjoyed food....paya, black daal… and he loved his whisky. At 9 pm sharp he’d open his bottle. You could call him a hard drinker but he was not an alcoholic. He never picked up his pen when he drank. The pen was Goddess Saraswati. Otherwise he’d note down his thoughts on whatever paper was available – sometimes even on his 555 cigarette pack. He also sang the song 'Baagon mein bahaar aayi' as a duet with Lata Mangeshkar.
Looking at his work I am sure that the loss of and longing for his mother inspired him to write incredibly amazing and emotional lyrics. At least that is what he told us when he would get nostalgic and emotional, which was very often. Sometimes I even wonder what made my father survive the loss of his mother, the loss of his land of birth, youth, and an impoverished life because of partition for nearly two decades. The secret may lie in what he always said – “There is something inside of me superior to my circumstances, stronger than every situation of life.”
Lyricist Sameer adds :-
“Bakshi saab once told me, ‘I’m not sad that I won’t live long. What I lament is the fact that a thousand songs that lie within me will also go with me. Could I hand them over to you, I would have. But these songs have come with me and they will go with me.”
Like poet Sahir Ludhianavi , Anand Bakshi had many phobias . He avoided air travel. He feared heights and avoided using lifts. He never stayed alone. someone had to be around him .Upto his death , he could not overcome the loss of his motherland Rawalpindi .
( Avtar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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