Asad Bhopali

To say is the birth anniversary of Asad Bhopali a talented poet /  lyricist of Hindi Cinema, whose name has unfortunately  remained unsung. Born Asadullah Khan this day in 1921 at Bhopal in British India, he started writing and reciting poetry at a young age and became known . Fazli Brothers , the film producers on the lookout for a lyricist, spotted him at  a Mushayara in Bhopal and impressed with is poetry, made an offer to write lyrics for their film. At the age of 28, Asad moved to Mumbai and wrote two lyrics for their film Duniya, which were sung by Mohammad Rafi and Suraiya.He wrote some more songs  for some other film which were sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum. He got the big break in B. R.Chopra's   film Afsaana(1951) for which he wrote five songs. He wrote many lyrics for the composer Usha Khanna.The songs penned by him for Paramani became very popular. Incidentally, this was Laxmikant Pyarelal's first movie as composers.

In a career spanning four decades, he wrote about 400 lyrics in a 100 movies but fame and popularity wise he couldn't get anywhere near the other renowned lyricists like, Majarooh Sultanpuri,Sahir Ludhiyanavi, Shakeel Badayuni,  Anand Bakshi, Rajender Krishan, etc. ,the reason being that most of the films he got to write lyrics for, were average films.
However his talent stood out in songs like :
Abhi Kamsin ho, nadaan ho, jaane jana...
Aye mere dile nadan, tu gham se na ghabrana...
Ajnabi tum jane pehchane se lagate ho.....
Bade bewafa hain ye husn wale....
Dil diwana bin sajna ke maane na...
Dil ki Baten, dil hi jane.....
Hum kashmkashe gham se guzar kyon nahin jaate ....
Hum tere bin jee na sakenge sanam...
Gum tumse juda ho ke, mar jaayenge ro ro ke....
Hum tumse pyar karte hain.....
Hansta hua noorani chehra . ......
Kabootar ja ja ja......
Main khushnaseeb hun mujhako kisi ka pyar mila....
Pyar bantate chalo.....
Raaz- e- dil unse chhupaya na gaya....
Sau bar janam lenge.....
Aapki inayaten aapke karam, aap hi batayen kaise bhoolenge hum...
Wo jab yaad aye , bahut yaad aye.....
Tera mera pyar koi, aajkal ki to baat nahin.....
All well known singers of the time gave voice to his songs.
He also won Filmfare Best Lyricist Award.
He died on June 9, 1990 aged 68.
Our humble tributes to the talented poet/ lyricist !