An intimate peek into the life of soldier-turned lyricist Anand Bakshi, this book takes us on an eventful journey: from his formative years in Rawalpindi in undivided Punjab, to his stint with the Royal Indian Navy at age fourteen and then as a fauji three years later in post-Partition India, to his move to Bombay, where he began his career as a lyricist for the film Bhala Admi, in 1956.
Along the way, Bakshi lost his mother, his place of birth, his home and wealth, but his zeal to stand up and walk after every stumble and his desire to become a lyricist never abated. He eventually rose to become a revered and sought-after lyricist in Hindi cinema, writing nearly 3300 songs for around 630 films over a span of five decades. His timeless lyrics for films such as Aradhana, Bobby, Sholay, Chandni, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Taal, Mohabbatein and Yaadein earned him many accolades and forty Filmfare Awards nominations.
Written by his son Rakesh Anand Bakshi, Nagme, Kisse, Baatein, Yaadein is an inspiring story of faith, dreams, success and, above all, human values.
RAKESH ANAND BAKSHI is a scriptwriter and director, and the author of Directors' Diaries: The Road to Their First Film, Let's Talk On-Air: Conversations with Radio Presenters, Directors' Diaries 2: Conversations with Filmmakers and Their Path to Filmmaking and I Adore You (with Kanika Kedia Rawal).
Rakesh is an enthusiast of brisk walking, swimming, cycling, skating and gymming, and the founder of Bicycle Angels, a social initiative which involves donating bicycles and wheelchairs to the differently abled, and imparting computer literacy to the visually impaired.
His works-in-progress include Mother's Love: The Shade of Flowers, a book for women and children; When I Grow Up, an illustrated story and activity book for children; and Light Speaks.
When a child is born in India, the parents not only give him an appropriate name according to his star sign but also get his destiny chart prepared by an astrologer. This is no ordinary custom, as it could be an image and reflection of a lifetime. Some people who believe in superstitions select weak or inappropriate names for their children. I have known some rich people who gave their children names that mean the opposite of their actual financial status and character; and I also know of poor people who gave their children names that signify immense wealth. But some people prove in their lifetime that they were rightly named.
A child born in a tiny village in Punjab was named Anand (happiness) Bakshi (to gift) by his parents, and all his life this poet gifted happiness to millions of his listeners. He was gifted with the talent of writing poetry that enthralled people throughout his professional span of more than fifty years in a life that lasted seventytwo years. Very few people are as fortunate and as gifted to be able to fulfil their destiny on earth with such flair and style as the late Anand Bakshi.
Around the time of Indian Independence, very few socialist poets wrote film songs, like Josh Malihabadi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Shailendra. The poets of that period were imbued with the colours of Indian nationalism. And they were politically coloured too, the effect of which we heard in their film songs. There's nothing wrong in being attached to the politics of the state or believing in a particular ideology. Every poet has a right to his or her beliefs and convictions. All these above-mentioned poets have written wonderful songs. Yet Anand Bakshi was never influenced by or attached to any socialist or political ideologies. He was first and foremost a film songwriter who was completely immersed in, just as his writings emerged from, the characters and the narrative of the film he was working on. He didn't have and aspire for fame in the world of poetry, but he was among the very best in the world of film songs. His success in writing film songs could make one feel that he took birth only to fulfil his destiny of being one of the best lyricists.
In that period, there already were great established poets around-like Shailendra, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Prem Dhawan and others. There was no opportunity, and no one could stand against these giants, especially a meagre soldier with poetic ambitions. The many famous music composers of that time already had their favourite poets and songwriters they were happy working with; so there was no scope of Anand Bakshi breaking through, especially with other good poets, like Indeevar and Anjaan, waiting in the wings much before Anand Bakshi arrived on the scene with his pen and paper. But it was his courage that made Anand Bakshi jump straight into the fiery sea of competition where much bigger fish already ruled the waves.
'Aadmi musafir hai, aata hai jaata hai, aate jaate, raste mein yaadein chhod jaata hai’
From the film Apnapan
I was first encouraged to write a biography of my father, the late Anand Bakshi, by his fans, my family, close friends and my first publisher Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri way back in 2012. I had told Shantanu then that I had been putting one together since 2002 and had about 150 pages, which I could send him only after I had a published book or a film to my name. This was because Dad had told me, 'Don't do anything in my name after I am gone until you first have something of your own in this world.' It took me fifty years to create something of my own-my first book as an author, Directors' Diaries: The Road to Their First Film, was published in 2015. Only after that did I begin to seek a publisher for this biography, which is seeing the light of day finally, thanks to Penguin Random House.
I began to think of what I had been writing since 2002 in earnest as a 'book' only about seven or eight years ago. Prior to that, I felt I was too close to my father to write about him, and that the book may come across as a form of hero worship. But I was wrong. The biggest reward of writing this book is that it brought me closer to my siblings; I stopped taking them for granted, because while writing this book I began to remember and realize that the four of us were the top priority for Mom and Dad, and not his songs. While he was around, I had sometimes felt his songs were more important than us, which distanced me from the daddy I had adored as a kid and teen. I was proved wrong as I further researched and wrote this book. Over the last decade of writing this book, I fell back in love with my daddy.
While working on the book I also realized that my family's true inheritance is not just our daddy's inspiring, entertaining and pertinent songs, which many of his fans constantly remind me of now and then, or his fame; our inheritance is also what was taken away from him and his family, and from millions of others, by the politics that led to the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. Moreover, our true inheritance is his resilience and grit, his hausla in building a life not just for himself alone but for his family too, always keeping us in sight like he kept the tip of his pen and the pages of his lyrics and personal diaries. Much of the intimate information in this book is thanks to his meticulously written personal diaries.
However, before we go back in time, and to the birth of Nand, Anand Bakshi's nickname, I would like to say that I am neither an expert on Hindi film songs nor on Anand Bakshi's songs. I am just a son writing a book about his daddy's journey, whatever little I know of his life's path and have learnt through his lyrics. I am also not privy to every event mentioned in this book and have gathered some of these from the hundreds of his fans I have met over the years. The book also includes what I've heard over four decades from Dad, and from our family and relatives. Much of the text in the first person comes from the notes I have taken from dad's journals/diaries because I want to give an authentic flavour to the memoir and make it sound as close to his voice as possible.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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