Sahir Ludhianvi - Lyrics and Bollywood

Lyrics and Bollywood

Sahir lived on the first floor of the main building of an Andheri outhouse. His famous neighbours included the poet, Gulzar and Urdu litterateur, Krishan Chander. In the 1970s, he constructed Parchaiyaan (Shadows), a posh bungalow, and lived there till his death. Journalist Ali Peter John, who knew the poet personally, says real-estate sharks have been eyeing Sahir's abode after the death of his sister. His belongings and trophies are in a state of ruin, according to the journalist.

Sahir Ludhianvi made his debut in films writing lyrics for the film Azadi Ki Raah Par (1949). The film had four songs written by him and his first song was Badal Rahi Hai Zindagi... Both the film and its songs went unnoticed. However, with Naujawaan (1951), he gained recognition. S.D. Burman composed the music for Naujawaan. Even today, the film's lilting song, "ठंडी हवाएँ लहराके आएँ...," remains popular. His first major success came the same year with Guru Dutt's directorial debut, Baazi (1951), again pairing him with Burman. Thus he became part of the Guru Dutt team, and after the success of Naujawaan and Baazi, the combination of Sahir Ludhianvi and S.D. Burman came out with many more everlasting songs.

Sahir worked with many music composers, including Ravi, S.D. Burman, Roshan and Khayyam, and has left behind many unforgettable songs for fans of the Indian film industry and its music. Pyaasa marked an end to his successful partnership with S.D. Burman over what is reported to be S.D. Burman's displeasure at Sahir receiving more admiration (and thus credit for the success) from audiences for the words of the lyrics than S.D. Burman did for his memorable tunes. Later, Sahir Ludhianvi teamed up with composer Datta Naik in several films. Datta, a Goan, was a great admirer of Sahir's revolutionary poetry. They had already worked together to produce the music for Milaap (1955). Sahir wrote many unforgettable gems for Datta.

From the time B.R. Chopra started producing and directing films under his banner 'B.R.Films' around 1950, Sahir Ludhiyanvi remained the preferred songwriter for his films. This association continued till Sahir Ludhiyanvi died, with his last composition for B.R.Films being for Insaaf Ka Tarazu. It was only after Sahir died that B.R. Chopra decided to use a new lyricist Hassan Kamaal for his films, starting with films like Nikaah. The association between Sahir and B.R. Chopra's family continued for so long that despite B.R. Chopra using different music directors in his movies, Sahir always remained the lyricist for his movies. Not just this, but even Yash Chopra, who broke away from B.R. Chopra's films and became an independent director and then producer of Hindi films, also used only Sahir Ludhiyanvi as the lyricist in all his movies, again an association which lasted till Sahir's death.

In 1958, Sahir wrote the lyrics for Ramesh Saigal's film Phir Subah Hogi, which was based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. The male lead was Raj Kapoor and it was presumed that Shankar-Jaikishan would be the music composers. However, Sahir insisted that only someone who had read the novel could provide the right score. Thus, Khayyam ended up as the music composer for the film, and the song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi with minimal background music remains an all-time hit. Khayyam went on to work with Sahir in many films including Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul.

Admirers and critics rate Sahir's work in Guru Dutt's Pyaasa as his finest. Pyaasa, some say, bears resemblance to Sahir's early years as a poet. The onscreen poet, Vijay played by Guru Dutt, bears a strong likeness to the man whose poetry gave the film its soul.

With success, Sahir started displaying arrogance. He insisted on writing the lyrics first and then having them set to music unlike his other contemporaries who would be happy penning their verses to the tunes. His other insistence of being paid 1 Rupee more than Lata Mangeshkar created a rift between him and S D Burman and Lata. His attempt at promoting a new singer Sudha Malhotra who was also his love interest was another example.

Sahir Ludhianvi's work in the 1970s was restricted to films mainly directed by Yash Chopra. Though his output in terms of number of films had thinned out, the quality of his writing commanded immense respect. Kabhie Kabhie (1976) saw him return to sparkling form. These songs won him his second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist, the first being for Taj Mahal (1963).