Tributes to legendary Hindi film lyricist and poet Rajinder Krishan, on his 100th birth anniversary today.
Tributes to legendary Hindi film lyricist and poet Rajinder Krishan, on his 100th birth anniversary today.
Rajinder Krishan, the man behind such early hit numbers as ‘Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon’ from Patanga (1949), ‘Chup Chup Khade Ho’ from Badi Bahen (1949), ‘Eena Meena Deeka’ from Aasha (1952), and ‘Ye Zindagi Usiki Hai’ from Anarkali (1953), was a skilled dialogue writer and lyricist associated with the Hindi film industry for nearly five decades.
One of the major Hindi film lyricists of 1950s and 1960s, Rajinder Krishan has worked with a number of music composers and wrote memorable songs like “Chup chup khade ho” from Badi Bahen (1949), “Man dole mera tan dole” from Nagin (1954) for which he also wrote the dialogues, “Jaag dard-e ishq jag” from Anarkali (1953), and the unforgettable “Main chali main chali” from Padosan, 1968. In his long career in Hindi films, he wrote lyrics for over 300 films and also wrote screenplays for over hundred films. For instance in the film Padosan, Krishan not only penned the lyrics of its immortal musical numbers that catapulted Kishore Kumar to stardom, he also wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the film.
Rajinder Krishan was born on June 6, 1919 in district Jalalpur Jattan in Gujarat. Since his early childhood, Krishan was greatly influenced by Hindi and Urdu poets like Firaq Gorakhpuri and Ahsan Danish, as well as Pant and Nirala. During his years in Jalalpur Jattan and later in Shimla, Krishan participated in a number of poetry recitals and gave his voice part-time, while he worked in a government job. In 1942, Krishan left his family and moved to Mumbai to make a career in the Hindi film industry. After an initial period of struggle, Krishnan got his first film as a screenwriter for Janta (1947). His first film as a lyric writer was Zanjeer (1947). The Motilal-Suraiyya starrer, Aaj Ki Raat (1948) gave Krishan his first big break within Hindi films. Soon he found success with iconic songs such as “Chali chali re patang meri” (Bhabhi, 1957).
The specialty of Rajinder Krishan’s songs lies in their simplicity, coupled with innovation. The lyrics he penned were versatile, and could be adapted to any situation, making him popular choice with music composers like Sajjid Hussain, SD Burman, S Mohinder, Chitragupt and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
