Anand Bakshi

Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins.

Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was born in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan, on 21 July 1930.[2] The family arrived in Delhi, via a Dakota aircraft, and then migrated to Pune, then Meerut and settled finally in Delhi.

Bakshi was fond of writing poetry since his youth, but he did this mostly as a private hobby. In a 1983 interview with Doordarshan,[3] Bakshi recounted that after his initial studies, he joined the Indian Navy, where due to a paucity of time, he could only write occasionally.[3] He continued to write poetry whenever time permitted, and used his songs and lyrics in local programmes related to his troop.[3] He worked in the Navy for many years and simultaneously tried to market his songs in the Mumbai film world.[3]

Anand Bakshi came to Hindi films to make a name for himself in writing and singing, but ended up becoming more successful in writing lyrics. He got his break writing songs in a Brij Mohan film titled Bhalaa Aadmi (1958), acted by Bhagwan Dada. He wrote four songs in this film. His first song in this film was “Dharti Ke Laal Na Kar Itna Malaal” which was recorded on 9 Nov 1956. (In his own voice on All India Radio interview)[4]

After writing for a few movies from 1956 onwards, he first found success in 1962 with Mehendi Lagi Mere Haath, which was produced by (LimeLight), Music Kalyanji & Anandji, Music Pub-HMV/Saregama. Bakshi later made another mark for himself writing a quawwali for the 1962 film Kala Samundar, the song was “Meri Tasveer Lekar Kya Karoge Tm”. He got his real big breakthroughs in 1965 with Himalay Ki God Mein, and a huge breakthrough again in 1965 with the super-hit film Jab Jab Phool Khile, starring Shashi Kapoor; and yet again in 1967 with the super-hit movie Milan (starring Sunil Dutt). These six hit films within a decade of his entry into films cemented his status as a lyrics writer of immense calibre. Bakshi was preferred lyricist by Rajesh Khanna for films with Rajesh Khanna in lead. He went on to work as a lyricist of over 3500 songs and 638 films in his career.[5][citation needed] (See Filmography below for films reference, names of the films and their year of censorship.)

He got his first break as singer in a film directed by Mohan Kumar – Mom Ki Gudiya (1972). The first song he sang was a duet – “Baaghon mein bahaar aayi hothon pe pukaar aayi”, along with Lata Mangeshkar, with music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. He also sang the solo “Main dhoondh raha tha sapnon mein” from the same film. He also sang songs in four other films: Sholay (1975), where he sang the quawwali “Chand Sa Koi Chehera” along with Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar and Bhupinder, (the song was released on vinyl, but not in the feature film); Maha Chor (1976); Charas (1976); and Balika Badhu (1976).