The writer of soulful songs
‘Hum hain rahi pyaar ke' from the film ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, ‘O mere dil ke chain’ from ‘Mere Jeevan Saathi’ and ‘Pehla nasha, pehla khumar’ from ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’: What do these songs have in common? They were written by — Majrooh Sultanpuri.
One of the most prolific Hindi film lyricists, Majrooh would have been 105 on October 1. Born in UP’s Sultanpur, his police officer father was averse to an English-medium education for his son and sent him to a madrassa instead. Later, he studied and practised unani medicine, but his heart was not in it. Soon, the applause he received at a mushaira convinced him that poetry was his calling.
Urdu poet Jigar Moradabadi took him under his wing and Majrooh participated at a mushaira in Mumbai, where filmmaker AR Kardar spotted his talent and asked him to write songs for his film. Majrooh, who did not think much of film music, declined the offer, but Moradabadi persuaded him, saying it would pay well.
He wrote ‘Jab dil hi toot gaya’ for ‘Shahjehan’, which singer KL Saigal liked so much that he wanted it to be played at his funeral. His leftist leanings and anti-establishment utterances landed him in jail. He was asked to apologise, but he remained true to his convictions.
Majrooh, who was prolific among the quartet — also comprising Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri and Sahir Ludhianvi — worked with a long list of composers from Naushad to Jatin-Lalit. The ageless wonder worked with music director Chitragupt and gave us melodies like ‘Jaag dil-e-diwana, rut jagi vasl-e-yaar ki’ from ‘Oonche Log’, which was soulfully rendered by Mohammed Rafi. Years later, he was equally at home working with Chitragupt’s sons, Anand-Milind.
In the 1980s, when action films were the rage, ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ bucked the trend with a refreshing love story. Almost 70, Majrooh dipped into his younger days and came up with the youth anthem, ‘Papa kehte hain bada naam karega'.
He reserved his best for composers SD Burman, with whom he also shared his birthday, and his son RD Burman. His association with dada Burman gave us such gems as ‘Achha ji main hari chalo mann jao na’ from ‘Kala Pani’, ‘Jalte hain jiske liye’ from ‘Sujata’ and ‘Teri bindiya re’ from ‘Abhimaan’. With Pancham, he embellished the Nasir Hussain musicals, such as ‘Yaadon Ki Baraat’ and ‘Hum Kisise Kum Naheen’. ‘Kya hua tera wada, woh kasam woh irada’ from the latter film fetched Rafi the Filmfare for the Best Playback Singer in 1978.
‘Chahunga main tujhe sanjh savere’ from ‘Dosti’ brought him his only Filmfare trophy for the best film lyrics in 1965. He was the first lyricist to have received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1993.
His pen name, Majrooh, meant ‘wounded’. He lived up to the name as he had quite a few heartbreaks. He lost one of his sons early; his other son struggled to be a film director. Till the very last, he had to write songs to put food on the table. A bout of pneumonia claimed him in 2000.
Though he wrote film lyrics for close to six decades, his first love was Urdu poetry. He often complained that he had little time left for his non-film literary work. Very few people know that a well-known couplet that also defined his early beginnings from obscurity to the dizzying heights he once touched was his own creation:
‘Main akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar,
Log saath aate gaye aur caravan banta gaya.’
