How a bus conductor became a famous lyricist

Prithviraj Kapoor identified Hasrat Jaipuri’s talent and urged his son Raj Kapoor to try him in films

‘Ek yahi ‘hasrat’ hai dil mein mere. Qalam chalti rahe subha-savere’ (I’ve just one desire. I want to keep wielding my quill day and night).

Indeed, Hasrat Jaipuri’s pen remained busy till he breathed his last on September 17, 1999. His birthday falls on April 15. Despite a plethora of magnificent poet-lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakeel Badayuni, Kaifi Azmi, Shailendra, among others, Hasrat carved a niche for himself. Penning 1,100 odd songs is no mean feat, considering the fact that all his coevals were remarkable poets.

A very pragmatic person, Hasrat never had pretensions about being predominantly a poet. He simply put it: ‘Naghme likhta hoon, naghmon ke liye jeeta hoon’ (I write lyrics and I live for them). So, he never suffered from angst that his poetic self was eclipsed by being a lyricist. He was never scornful of writing songs.

Hailing from a barren region in Rajasthan (he was from Jaipur), Hasrat’s pen never faced a drought of words. Prithviraj Kapoor, who saw a young Hasrat recite his poetry in a mushaira (at a gathering of poets), urged his son Raj Kapoor to try him in films.

At that time, Hasrat was a bus conductor in Bombay, earning 11 rupees per month. One thing led to another, and Hasrat found himself composing his first song ‘Jiya Beqaraar Hai’ for ‘Barsaat’ (1949) starring Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Prem Nath and Nimmi.

Creative team

The highly creative collaboration of Raj Kapoor, Shankar-Jaikishan, Shailendra and Hasrat remained unbreakable for many moons. Raj Kapoor never made it mandatory for Hasrat and Shailendra to write only for RK Banners, the way B R Chopra tried to force Rafi to sing only for him.

Having had the freedom, Hasrat wrote for other directors and producers as well. His iconic songs are ‘Ye mera prem patra padhkar ke tum...’ (‘Sangam, 1964’), ‘Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par’ (‘Jungli’, 1962), ‘Aa ja re aa zara; (‘Love In Tokyo’, 1966), ‘Pankh hote to ud aati re’ and ‘Tum toh pyaar ho’ (‘Sehra’, 1963), ‘Gumnaam hai koi’ (‘Gumnaam’, 1965), ‘Zindagi ek safar hai suhana’ (‘Andaaz’, 1971) and ‘ Tum kamsin ho naadaan ho’ (‘Ayee Milan Ki Bela’, 1964).

While he predominantly worked with Shankar-Jaikishan, Hasrat also wrote for S D Burman, albeit for only two movies: ‘Tere Ghar Ke Saamne’ (1963) and ‘Ziddi’ (1964). In the former, Hasrat wrote ‘Tu kahan ye bata’, ‘Dekho rootha na karo,’ ‘Dil ka bhanwar kare pukaar’. Hasrat also wrote ‘Raat ka samaan, jhoome chandrama’ for ‘Ziddi’.

Another line that is immortal is ‘Mujhe tumse muhabbat hai magar main kah nahin sakta’ (‘Bachpan’, 1963). It was composed by his brother-in-law Sardar Malik (Anu Malik’s father) and a young and debonair Salim Khan sang it in the movie. Rafi himself considered it to be one of his best five film songs ever.

Hasrat once told an interviewer that words effortlessly came to his pen and he never had to struggle to write them.

The man who made an entire generation feel mushy never got disillusioned with life, love and romance.

The song was first a poem, written for a Hindu girl, whose name was Radha. Incidentally, Vaijantimala’s name in the movie was also Radha.

It was Raj Kapoor’s tribute to Hasrat’s love for that sylph damsel from Jaipur.