SHAILENDRA : “CHALAT MUSAFIR MOH LIYO RE - PINJARE WAALI MUNIYAA “

                                     

                                   ( With his family)

                ( With Music Director Roshan)

           (With Rafi and Shanker)

                                                                  

              ( Shailendra with Raj Kapoor )   
                                   

               ( With Jaikishen)

                 ( With Lata ji)

                  (In his Library)

                      ( Recording O mere Sanam O mere Sanam)              

"APNI KAHAANI  CHHORR. JA..
KUCHH  TO NISHAANI  CHORR JA "

SHAILENDRA  ( 1923 -1966 )

He was known as   shailendra   ( 1923 -1966 ), a lyricist  who wrote some  simple but memorable songs that carry the fragrance  of  basic human nature . At times , these songs convey something deep through the words  that appear  trivial .These songs  convey     romance, melancholy, pain,  optimism, spirituality and sometimes humour and irony  of  human existence . These songs were created  for film stories of love, faithfulness and idealism .He wrote  something around 900 songs that include many   Bhojpuri  songs .

For this post, i shall quote just 20 songs. I have  grown up listening to  these songs  . And i keep listening  to  these songs again and again.
Shailendra's lyrics captured the imagination of every indian. Every song that he penned, created an ageless charm.

I quote:

(1) Ab ke baras bhaij bhaiya  ko babul saawan mein deejiyo bulaaye re
(2) Preet ye  kaisi bol ri duniya
(3) Raja ki aayegi baraat  rangeeli hogi raat
(4) Pyaar huvaa Iqraar huva hai
(5) Ramiayaa vasta vaiyaa
(6)  Dil ka na karna eitebaar koyee
(7)  Na mein dhan chaahuun ( Geeta Dutta and Sudha Malhotra )
(8) Ajeeb dastaan hai yeh, kahaan shuru kahaan khatam
(9) Dharti kahe pukaar ke …. mausam beeta jaaye .
(10)  Chhoti si yeh duniya pehchaane raaste hain
(11)  Ruk jaa raat thehar jaa re chanda
(12)  Apni  to har aah ek toofan hai
(13)  Ek naye mehmaan ke aane  kI  khabar hai
(14)  Sajan re jhooth mat bolo
(15)  Chalat musafir  moh  liya re
(16)  Dil  ki girah khol  do
(17)  Nache mun mora magan
(18)   Zulmi sang aankh larri
(19)   Aaj phir jeene ki tamanaa hai
(20)  Piya to se naina laage  re

While a good number of his songs reflect socialist ethos, most of his poems on political subjects continue to be anthems of several theatre groups in the country including IPTA. And his song 'Paan khaaye saiyaan hamaar ' was something like "Beedi jalaai le jigar se piya " of present age.

From a welder in Indian Railways ,  Shankardas Kesarilal  (  Born In Rawalpindi and grew up in UP and Bihar  ) became Shailendra  , the most popular lyricist of Indian Cinema . He had a fantastic command over   Hindi, Urdu  and   Bhojpuri . And for this reason ,he was always in demand.   From Rs250 ( Barsaat  ) per song , he climbed in popularity   to get   Rs10000/= per song   and finally one lakh per film.
Raj Kapoor would affectionately call him Kaviraj and Pushkin. He worked with almost all music directors   of  Indian Cinema.

Many of us have forgotten the filmfare award distribution  incident of  1964. In thar year, the  best lyricsist award went to Sahir Ludhinavi  for his song ‘Jo wada kiya wo’ that he wrote for the movie ' Taj Maha'. Sahir was possibly not satisfied with the selection of the jury. When the award was announced,  Sahir  went up to the stage and declared  that  the award  should  have gone to  Shailendra for the song ‘Mat ro mata  laal tere bahutere'  that he wrote  for Bandini. According to Sahirl, it was the  best patriotic song he had ever heard. Sahir called  Shailendra to the stage and handed him his trophy.

Shailendra  produced Teesri  Kasam ,  a  film   based on a short story  “Maare Gaye Gulfaam  “by Phanishawar Nath Renu . Renu ji  wrote the dialogues of the movie . Teesri kasam  project was started in 1960  by him pooling money from  from his own sources apart from market borrowings .  The movie earned him awards but proved a commercial failure .  With this sudden turn of events ,  he was  in a financial mess  and went into deep anxiety and depression.  He started excessive drinking and in 1966,  he died of various ailments including liver damage  . I  love the situation and picturization of the song 'Maare Gaye Gulfaam" in Teesri Kasam. Dinesh Shailendra's , son of the late poet has a little different version to convey about his death. He feels it was more due to  betrayal than the financial losses.

He lived in   Mathura for about ten years during his youth. As a token of love , a road  has been  named after him in Mathura lately. He stayed in this town with his brother.

Shailendra’s son Dinesh Shankar has compiled a collection of his father’s poems titled" Andar Kee Aag" (The Fire Within) .This lovely book has been published by Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi.

I end this brief  post on Shailendra with a couplet of urdu poet Wamiq Jaunpuri :

Bazm-e-Anjum  ho  ke Bazm-e-Khaak-taa-Bazm-e-Khayaal
Jis  jagah jaao  sunayee  degi  Insaanon ki  Baat
Kyaa  kabhi  hogii   kisi  ki tuu magar aey zindagi
Jaan de kar ham ne rakh li  tere Deewanon  ki  Baat……………………

( 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\.