The King Of Poems – Shailendra – And His Songs With Some Lesser Known Music Directors

Kaviraj – the king of poems. Generous as a king. With words and at heart too. Sensitive, idealistic and intuitive. A man who has the ability to influence people, even after he is long gone, through his words. His pen still speaks, guides, flirts and romances with the readers/listeners. His commitment to his work is exceptional. His ability to connect with people with simple but motivating and impressive words is unrivalled. His words have eloquence and depth at the same time. He wrote romantic songs, bhajans, patriotic numbers, lullabies, all this and much more with equal mastery. He was simple to the core as he never forgot his roots. A poet whose words enthrall people even now. A mountain of work without offending anybody in his language. Though Shailendra remained attached to the Raj Kapoor camp, creating volumes of quality work for the showman, his work outside the camp was equally good. His rapport with Shankar – Jaikishan is well known. So is his works with S.D.Burman and Salil Chowdhury. Leaving apart these stalwarts, Shailendra has also done films with music directors who are lesser known. But quality of his work remains intact.

Let us highlight his work with the lesser known music directors, with whom he has done only a film or 2 and appreciate his quality of work, use of words and phrases in these songs too!!

1. Basant Prakash – Badnaam (1952) – Basant Prakash is the younger brother of Khemchand Prakash. He has given music to 10-12 Hindi films, including Badnaam with Shailendra as the lyricist.

2. Jimmy – Shrimatiji (1952) – The film stars Shyama and Nasir Khan (Dilip Kumar’s younger brother). It had multiple music directors and multiple lyricists. But this particular song was written by Shailendra and the music was given by Jimmy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDBuIUbfaA

3. Neenu Majumdar – Bhai Saheb (1954) – The film has some wonderful melodies rendered by C H Atma. All written by Shailendra. Here is one them.

4. Suhrid Kar – Kaanch Ki Gudiya (1961) – This peppy number is rendered by Rafi and Asha Bhonsle. A light hearted romantic number by Shailendra.

5. Manohar – Chingari (1955) – Manohar Arora was a Punjabi composer who gave music to a handful of Hindi films. Chingari, with Shailendra as the lyricist, is one of them.

6. Sardul Kwatra – Pipili Saheb (1954) – Sardul Kwatra is a well known name in the Punjabi music industry. He’s given music to a few Hindi film songs too. Pipili Saheb stars Pran and Shyama in major roles.

7. Nachiketa Ghosh – Indrani (1958) – Indrani is a Bengali film starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. It has one Hindi song which was written by Shailendra. Filmed on the most romantic couple of the Bengali cinema and set to tune by Nachiketa Ghosh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OShV-XNqd3I