Anand Bakshi was one of the greatest and popular lyricists of his time.
He was the only lyricist, besides his associate
Majrooh Sultanpuri, who enjoyed such
a long and illustrious career in Bollywood lyricism and was still going
strong after more than 40 years. Like Sultanpuri, Bakshi wrote simple
poetry that could be understood by all, and he was in wide demand by
all filmmakers.
Born in Rawalpindi, 1930, Bakshi was an avid film buff and always
dreamt of coming to Bombay and join Bollywood. As his family was
against the idea, being composed of mainly bank/military officials, he
ran away from home and joined the Navy with the hope of reaching
Bombay. But his naval career was cut short with the naval mutiny that
occurred in Karachi, and the subsequent partition of India forced him
to rejoin his family in Lucknow and take a job as a telephone operator.
But he was still determined to go to Bombay, and soon fulfilled his
dream.
Initially, he could make no headway. Disillusioned and dejected, he
worked in Delhi as a motor mechanic. But Bakshi was persistent and kept
coming back to Bombay, and in 1958 he got a chance meeting with the
actor Bhagwan Palav, who offered him a
job to write the lyrics for his film
Bhala Aadmi (1958). Then followed
more long periods of struggle until he got his big break in
Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath (1962)
and
Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965),
both films by Suraj Prakash. Their
success, particularly the latter film with its Kashmiri love story,
brought Bakshi to the fore. However it was only with the blockbuster
Milan (1967) that he was recognized as a
lyricist par excellence, with tunes from the film being hummed all over
the country. Anand Bakshi had arrived, and from then there was no
looking back for him.
A golden age followed for Bakshi, during which he wrote lyrics for
box-office hits like
Amar Akbar Anthony (1977),
Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981),
Sholay (1975) and his favourite film,
Amar Prem (1972) - the first two having
been composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the last two by
Rahul Dev Burman. He also worked with
renowned directors like Raj Kapoor,
Subhash Ghai and his close friend
Yash Chopra, and composed lyrics for all
their successes, notably Bobby (1973) for
the socialist Kapoor, Taal (1999) for masala
director Ghai and
Dil To Pagal Hai: Mein Herz spielt verrückt (1997) for the
romantic Chopra. Indeed, it seemed that for a film to be a box-office
success all it needed was great music - and lyrics by Anand Bakshi!
Bakshi's career kept at an all-time high until 30 March 2002, when he
passed away in Bombay. He had been quite ill for a few months and had
been undergoing treatment for cardiac-related problems. His death was a
tragic loss to Bollywood Cinema, especially for those connoisseurs of
great music and lyricism. However, even after his death, directors
continued to use lyrics he compiled before his death. Such dedication
and trust in a lyricist already gone proved why Anand Baskhi was truly
one of the elite lyricists of all time...
