How Anand Bakshi’s Lyrics For 3300 Songs Defined Generations
In a profession spanning over 4 many years, 3,300 songs and greater than 600 movies, lyricist Anand Bakshi wrote the soundtrack to hundreds of thousands of Indian lives enamoured by common Hindi cinema. (Picture above of lyricist Anand Bakshi and legendary music administrators Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Picture courtesy Twitter/Bollywood History Pics)
Bakshi wrote songs capturing a myriad of themes starting from romance like ‘Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu’ (Aradhana, 1969), ‘Humko Humise Chura Lo’ (Mohabbatein, 2000) or ‘Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jaana Sanam’ (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, 1995) to patriotism with ‘I Love My India’ (Pardes, 1997) and psychedelia like ‘Dum Maro Dum’ (Haré Rama Haré Krishna, 1971). By no means one to overlook his Punjabi people roots and the ‘Pind’ his household needed to depart behind following Partition, he additionally wrote songs like ‘Sawan Ka Mahina, Pawan Kare Shor’ (Milan, 1967), ‘Major Nikla Gaddi Leke’ (Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, 2001) and ‘Bindiya Chamkegi’ (Do Raaste, 1969).
He wrote for well-known on-screen {couples} like Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol, Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz and Hrithik Roshan-Kareena Kapoor and legendary composers together with Naushad, SD Burman, RD Burman, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Jatin-Lalit and AR Rahman, amongst others.
Playback singers from the likes of Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi to Udit Narayan have all breathed life into his phrases as properly. Legendary Bollywood actor Dharmendra known as Bakshi a ‘King’ for his immaculate physique of labor, whereas filmmakers like Mahesh Bhatt referred to him as “a gradual flame, with a sound thoughts”.
From films like Amar-Prem (1972), Bobby (1973), Sholay (1975), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) to Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Bakshi’s lyrics left an indelible impression within the minds of a number of generations.
Right here’s the exceptional story of this legendary, however forgotten determine in Hindi cinema.
Rising up in Love with Movie Songs
Born on 21 July 1930 in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), Bakshi harboured ambitions of changing into a playback singer within the Hindi movie trade. His household, nonetheless, had completely different expectations of him. His paternal grandfather, a superintendent of prisons within the erstwhile Punjab Province of British India, and father, a financial institution supervisor, actively discouraged Bakshi’s ardour for music.
Impressed by the syncretic traditions of his hometown, the place individuals heard music from the Mosque, Gurdwara and Hindu temples, and the people songs sung by farmers, Bakshi discovered a option to escape his father and grandfather’s objections. Every time they weren’t round, he would stroll round his neighbourhood both reciting verses from people poems or singing movie songs.
By his teenagers, Bakshi had joined the Indian Navy, however quickly after, Partition struck. Selecting up no matter they may, the household took off in a Dakota plane for a brand new dwelling in India. Submit Independence, he even labored for the Indian Military. All these experiences would affect a big a part of his songwriting, whether or not it was the nostalgia related together with his childhood, the ache of leaving his hometown throughout Partition or his patriotism having labored within the armed forces.
You may hear a few of these influences on songs like ‘Aaya Hai Mujhe Phir Yaad Woh Zaalim’ (Devar, 1966), ‘Mere Desh Mein Pavan Chale Purvai’ (Jigri Dost, 1969), ‘Ghar Aaja Pardesi’ (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, 1995). And even in songs like ‘Yahan Major Ajnabi Hoon’ (Jab Jab Phool Khile, 1965) the place he juxtaposes nostalgia for his childhood with the alienation he generally felt dwelling within the bustling metropolis of Mumbai and its chaotic movie trade.
One in every of Bakshi’s greatest influences rising up was his mom Sumitra Bali Bakshi, whom he tragically misplaced on the age of simply six. In truth, one of many few issues he was in a position to choose up from his dwelling after escaping Rawalpindi throughout Partition was a photograph of his mom. It’s a photograph he stored with him all through his life. Regardless of all of the success that got here in a while, the occasion left a critical imprint on his thoughts and would go on to affect his songwriting too.
In a 1993 interview with journalist Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha, Bakshi recalled how music composer SD Burman defined a scene to him from Aradhana and requested him to jot down a music for it. About three days later, Bakshi got here again with a music which excited SD Burman.
“How did you write such an exquisite music?” Burman requested Bakshi. To which he replied, “Dada, my mom handed away after I was slightly baby. After I wrote this music, I considered her.” The music which emerged from this change was ‘Chanda Hai Tu Mera Suraj Hai Tu’ sung by the late Lata Mangeshkar. In the identical movie, nonetheless, Bakshi additionally wrote different classics like ‘Mere Sapno Ki Rani’, ‘Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera’ and the timeless ‘Roop Tera Mastana’.
Making it in Bollywood
However earlier than he might write all these songs, Bakshi needed to get his foot into the door and that wasn’t straightforward by any stretch of the creativeness. As he notes in a biography, ‘Nagme, Kisse, Baatein, Yaadein – The Life & Lyrics of Anand Bakshi’ written by his son Rakesh Anand Bakshi:
“I arrived right here with a lot of disadvantages. I knew nobody to start with and had no assist [from] my household. Nonetheless, in hindsight, I now realise that I had one very huge benefit: I might sing and counsel Punjabi people tunes with my lyrics; each got here naturally to me. I had been singing and composing my very own verses for pals since childhood; I did so for my friends within the military as properly. I didn’t know then that it was to work to my benefit. Furthermore, it was the singing I had been doing since childhood that made me need to write poetry in my teenagers.”
By the late Nineteen Fifties, he had spent months calling studios to satisfy administrators, composers and producers, however to no avail. He lastly received a small break with the 1958 movie Bhala Aadmi, when director and lead actor Grasp Bhagwan employed him to jot down songs. However his first main break within the movie trade got here the next yr when famous composer Roshan [Lal Nagrath Mohan] selected him to jot down lyrics for his 1959 movie CID Lady starring Balraj Sahni, Geeta Bali and Helen.
The story of how he received this gig exemplifies the extraordinary work ethic and self-discipline that marked Bakshi’s profession. In the future, regardless of heavy rains that shut down Mumbai’s native prepare and bus companies, Bakshi walked 19 km from his non permanent residence in Borivali to Roshan’s dwelling in Santa Cruz carrying a e-book of poems he had written and a damaged umbrella.
Technique of Songwriting
There have been two key sides to his course of — a movie’s storyline and ease. As Rakesh wrote in his biography, “Many administrators advised me that earlier than starting work on a music, Bakshi would ask them to relate your complete story to him repeatedly. And as soon as he had absorbed the movie’s plot, even an earthquake couldn’t have distracted him. Although the story was of prime significance to him, the lyricist understood and revered the position of the music composer. He knew that it was the trio of composer, singer and lyricist that introduced a music collectively.”
Bakshi himself had stated, “How do I write movie songs? I all the time first hear the entire story, perceive the plot and characters deeply, after which hear the person scenario of the music required. I feel I’m an excellent listener. Good songs exist in good tales. It’s a matter of getting them out of the scenario itself. I unlock my songs from the conditions offered to me by the scriptwriter and director. Then I focus on all I’ve heard with the music director and director a number of instances; solely after that will we transfer on, collectively, to create the tune and lyrics.”
“The songs are within the story. I all the time image how the music will play on the display whereas writing. I can visualise it even when I don’t understand how the director will shoot it. Filmmakers like Subhash Ghai elevate my lyrics to extraordinary ranges by picturizing them very properly,” added Bakshi. There have been even moments when he wrote songs “tuned to the metre of my heartbeats”.
The second side of his songwriting course of was guaranteeing that it was written in easy language which everybody might perceive. Since his formal schooling solely prolonged to Class 8, Bakshi would typically admit that his vocabulary was ‘restricted’. Nonetheless, his strategy to songwriting was co-signed by different lyricists he revered dearly together with Dinanath Madhok, Sahir Ludhianvi and Shailendra. All of them suggested him to keep up that simplicity.
Having stated that, there have been nonetheless these within the trade who seemed down upon Bakshi’s work. They might say, “Anand Bakshi tukbandi karta hai. Woh toh shayar hello nahi (He’s a rhymester, not a poet).” His response to those taunts was, “I’ve by no means claimed to be a poet. Furthermore, khayal apna apna, pasand apni apni (Every to this personal).”
As Rakesh wrote in his father’s biography, “After all, the lyrics author can fly, like a poet. However solely throughout the sky of the story. This makes it a troublesome self-discipline in comparison with poetry. In contrast to a poet, the movie lyrics author has to gel with the others with out shedding his or her individuality.”
Within the following sentence, Rakesh refers to a quote by Pt Narendra Sharma about movie lyrics: “The movie lyrics author conjures up and entertains the listener, encouraging him to imagine she or he might maybe be its author, its singer, or its music composer.” Some would argue that songs like ‘Major Shaayar Toh Nahin’ (Bobby, 1973) and ‘Major Shaayar Badnaam’ (Namak Haram, 1973) have been sly digs at these critics who demeaned his pen sport.
Legacy
In addition to all of the numerous situations of his lyrics inspiring hundreds of thousands of Indians, there may be one which stands out specifically. In line with a number of accounts, Bakshi sooner or later obtained a letter from a fan who wrote to him about how his music lyrics saved him from dying by suicide.
The fan had allegedly laid down on the railway tracks passing via his village. However as he waited there for the prepare to come back, he remembered the phrases of a music from the 1974 movie Dost known as ‘Gaadi Bula Rahi Hai Seeti Baja Rahi Hai’. Loosely translated part of the music reads:
Don’t defame a prepare by holding your head on the rail.
Don’t lose religion and have endurance, come, let’s return dwelling.
This night time is passing, the morning is arriving.
The prepare beckons, blowing its whistle.
Life is about shifting on. Life retains shifting.
Realising his grave mistake, the fan received off the railway tracks and jumped out simply because the prepare whistled previous him. This letter, Bakshi believed, was his greatest award regardless of the 40-odd Filmfare awards he obtained for ‘Finest Lyricist’.
He ultimately handed away on 30 March 2002. Not a person to retire, he continued writing lyrics to movie songs until just a few days earlier than he breathed his final. By any measure, it was a unprecedented profession adapting to altering expectations, tradition and sensibilities of the movie trade into his 70s.
Whereas his soul might have departed, his phrases will proceed to face the take a look at of time.
Sources:
‘Nagme, Kisse, Baatein, Yaadein: The Life & Lyrics of Anand Bakshi’ by Rakesh Anand Bakshi (26 April 2021)
‘The Many Moods Of Lyricist Anand Bakshi’ by Karan Dhall courtesy Movie Companion (30 March 2022)
‘Music and lyrics: For Anand Bakshi, his life was his muse’ by Ganesh Vancheeswaran courtesy Scroll.in (30 March 2022)
(Edited by Yoshita Rao)
