ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Hindi film lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri dies at 81

Hasrat Jaipuri, a top-ranking lyricist of the golden age of Hindi film music, died of kidney and liver failure this evening in a private hospital at Bandra in north-west Bombay. He was 81.

Born in 1918, Hasrat entered films in the 1940s and was closely associated with the late Raj Kapoor from the early years of his career, making his debut in Barsaat, the second film made by Kapoor, and working in almost all films made under the RK banner.

He is credited with writing simple, poetic lyrics. Some of the other RK hits for which he wrote songs were Shri 420, Awara and Mera Naam Joker.

He also wrote lyrics for Shammi Kapoor hits like Teesri Kasam, Brahmachari and Andaaz, composing songs for more than 200 films in his career.

Expressing deep sorrow at the death, music composer Naushad said, "Hasratsaheb was a good human being and Urdu poet. Apne likhaai se prem ki bhaavna laate the. He was loved by one-and-all in the film industry and was one of the last pillars of RK Studios."

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar expressed shock at Hasrat's death. "I sang the most number of songs written by Hasrat Jaipuri and composed by Shankar-Jaikishen," she noted, and called him a lyricist par excellence.

She remembered the days when the group of Shankar-Jaikishen, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra dominated Hindi film music. "We had good relations... Now I have lost a friend," she said.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report