24th February Naqsh Lyallpuri Was Born

PROFILE OF NAQSH LYALLPURI - LYRIC WRITER

A young student of poetry came from Lyallpur (Faisalabad), West Punjab, to the industrial city of Mumbai to earn his livelihood. By chance he got into a film career. He wrote about 200 films and 70 T.V. serials. His poetic calibre gave him name and fame. Today he is a known personality. His film songs are popular worldwide.

He is 75 now but still active in his profession. He has worked with composers like Naushad - Husnlal Bhagatram - Shankar Jaikishen - Laxmikant Pyarelal - R. D. Burman - Uttam Singh - Ravindra Jain - Rajesh Roshan - Bappi Lahiri - Sapan Jagmohan - Khayyam and Late Madam Mohan Roshan - Jaidev - Salil Choudhry.

His popular songs are:
• Rasme Ulfat Ko Nibhaen To Nibhaen Kaise (Lata)

• Yeh Mulaqat Ik Bahana Hai (Lata)

• Tumhen Dekhti Hoon To Lagta Hai Aise (Lata)

• Na Jaane Kya Hua Jo Tune Choo Liya (Lata)

• Main To Har Mod Par Tujko Doonga Sada (Mukesh)

• Maane Teri Nazar Mein Tera Payar Hum Nahin (Sulakshna Pandit)

• Rishton Mein Darar Aayee (Jagjit Singh)

• Chandni Raat Mein Ik Baar Tujhe Dekha Hai (Lata-Kishore)

• Ulfat Mein Zamane Ki Har Rasam Ko Thukrao (Lata)

• Kai Sadiyon Se Janmon Se (Mukesh)

• Phool Ka Shabab Kya (Mohd. Rafi)

• Tumhein Ho Na Ho (Runa Laila)

• Chithie (Lata)…

…and many more

Naqsh Lyallpuri: DK Bose Is An Embarrassment

By Devesh Sharma | posted May 11th 2012 at 12:00AM

52.38M views

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Past perfectHe’s 84 and counting. Despite his age, poet and lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri hasn’t lost his wit or his memory. He tells me he’s also a Punjabi Brahmin like me and his real name is Jaswant Rai Sharma. Born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad in Pakistan), he took on the name Naqsh as his nom de plume. Such is his love for his birthplace that he and his family have embraced it as their surname even after migrating to India. Recently, a Pakistani delegation travelled to India to honour him and was amazed by his heartfelt gesture. Naqsh’s father was an engineer, quite a feat in those days and wanted his son to follow his footsteps. But the young man never took to science. “I was bored by science and math. I used to hide literary magazines under my textbooks and read them in class. No wonder I only got passing grades.” At the behest of his Urdu teacher, who understood his potential, Naqsh went to Lahore to study literature. He became the toast at mushairas in Lahore. All looked fine… then the partition happened and shattered many a dream.

Partition pangs
India became independent but fell prey to Hindu-Muslim riots which made life hell for the young poet in Lahore. One day, Naqsh got to know that the daughter of one of his friends was unwell. He sat with the family till the wee hours of the night. On returning home, he was accosted by a group of youths. Thankfully they turned out to be Hindus. “I still lie awake in the night sometimes remembering those times. What if the youths who caught me hadn’t been Hindus? I can’t fathom why neighbours who lived peacefully with one another became involved in such bloodshed.”

Bombay calling
After the partition, the family moved to Lucknow but the young poet found the atmosphere stifling. He moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) as he wanted to pursue a career in films. His beginnings in Mumbaiwere ominous. He got down at Kalyan station to drink water but an eagle snatched away the smalldona (vessel) holding the water. “Eagles have symbolised the spirit of Mumbai for me ever since. I have always looked upon the city as a bird of prey.” A friend had promised him a place to stay in Dadar but upon reaching the address, he found that his friend had gone to Pune on urgent business. “Penniless, I took refuge in a gurudwara, as you could stay there for a week and eat the langar (free meals) twice a day. I met one Kuldip Singh, who helped to arrange my stay for one more week and also gave me Rs 20, which was a big sum then.”

Films galoreNaqsh joined the postal service to make ends meet but soon got bored of the routine. To get his creative juices flowing, he wrote a play along with some friends. The lead was played by actor Ram Mohan and the duo became friends. His pal introduced the young lyricist to filmmaker Jagjit Sethi, who gave him his first break under the baton of composer Hansraj Bahl in the film Jaggu (1952). It wasn’t a rosy beginning as he didn’t get work in A-grade films. “I wasn’t satisfied with the offers for stunt films that were coming my way. My wife goaded me into accepting them stating that the films may be mediocre but I should ensure that my work isn’t. Sadly, whatever I wrote in the black and white era for films like Ghamand (1955), Rifle Girl (1958), Circus Queen (1959) and Choron Ki Baraat (1960) didn’t become popular.” He recalls that there were four other lyricists besides him in Choron Ki Baraat and one of them was Gulzar Deenvi, who later became famous as just Gulzar. “Gulzar wrote,‘Yeh duniya hai taash ke patte, isko karo salaam’ for the film. That was the time when all of us were writing at a feverish pitch to make ends meet. He might not even remember it today.”

Punjabi tadka
Interestingly, Naqsh’s Urdu was so good that people refused to believe he was Punjabi. He got his first break in Punjabi films through Sapan-Jagmohan in the film Jeejaji (1953). After that he wrote more than 350 songs for 40 Punjabi films. “I was the writer of choice for Punjabi film composers like Surinder Kohli, Hansraj Bahl, Ved Sethi and Husnlal-Bhagatram. Money poured in but I was in danger of being typecast as a Punjabi lyricist.”

Colour of money
His first big hit in the colour era was Chetna (1970). The song Main toh har mod par tujhko doonga sada sung by Mukesh became famous. After that he started getting a better league of films. His other hits from the era include Rasme ulfat ko nibhaye toh nibhaye kaise (Dil Ki Rahen – 1973), Ulfat mein zamane ki (Call Girl – 1974), Yeh mulaqat ek bahana hai (Khandaan – 1979) and many more. “I thank all my music directors like Khayyam, Naushad, Jaidev and Madan Mohan who gave me such good work. But I also wonder – where were they in the earlier two decades, when I was doing B and C grade Hindi films and Punjabi films to survive?”

Royals and royalty
One reason he struggled to make it big was that he refused to elaborate on mukhdas provided by producers and composers. He says only some lucky few escaped this curse. “Poets like Kaifi Azmi or Sahir Ludhianvi were royalty. Unka likha patthar ki lakeer hota tha (their verses were written in stone). Composers used to set their tunes to words and not vice versa. You couldn’t change a comma. And they were able to command royalty even from the producer’s share. It’s something only Lata Mangeshkar and today AR Rahman have been able to achieve. Getting your due from this industry is an art in itself. Only a select few have been able to practise that with success. I never could learn to negotiate a favourable contract.” This was one reason he was motivated to become a founder member of the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS), which works towards getting royalty for composers and lyricists.

The Henna controversy
The poet maintains he’s grateful to composer Ravindra Jain for giving him the Chithiye song fromHenna. “Rajji (Kapoor) heard it and there were tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Naqshji, aap itne dino tak the kahan? (Where were you all this while?).’ He couldn’t believe that we hadn’t worked together, despite being in the industry for more than 30 years. ‘Galti ho gayi (I made a mistake). I should have met you sooner,’ Rajji added. In hindsight, Naqsh presumes that Ravindra Jain couldn’t tolerate this sudden friendship between him and Rajji. Ravindra is a lyricist too and perhaps thought that his position was being threatened. “Ravindra didn’t like it when Rajji asked me to write the lyrics forAnardana too. He argued against it but Rajji told me to go ahead.” It was Naqsh’s bad luck that Raj Kapoor fell ill at the time of the recording which had to be cancelled. Naqsh reveals it’s an undisputed fact that the musicians concerned got cancellation charges. When Randhir Kapoor took over (after Raj Kapoor’s demise) Ravindra went to him with his version and said that’s the one what Rajji had approved. Ramesh Behl, who was present at that recording and knew Naqsh had written the original created a furore. “I didn’t know Randhir at all and hence didn’t go to him to dispute the point. It all became very petty and childish and I distanced myself from it. Later, Ravindra asked me to let bygones be bygones but that’s like kicking someone deliberately and then saying sorry, isn’t it?”

Whatever worksThe lyricist observes that success and failure in the industry defy logic. For instance, the super hit song from Naagin, Man dole mera tan dole… kaun bajaye bansuriya… doesn’t have a flute playing in the background. Yet it became such a big hit and people listen to it even today. He expounds, “In grammar, we have been told to avoid double adjectives, yet some of our best known lyricists are guilty of using them. A sublime poet like Shailendra, who has written such heartwarming songs such as Kisi ki muskurahton pey ho nissar (Anari), also wrote O basanti pawan pagal for Jis Des Mein Ganga Behti Hai. Now, is the wind mad (pagal) or is it full of spring (basanti). Then the thought changes… Na ja re na jaa, roko koi (Please don’t go, someone stop it). So, are you arguing against the basic nature of the wind? And, if you want it to stop, then why are you calling it basanti andpagal? Too many conflicts and yet the song today is considered a classic.”
He respects Gulzar but doesn’t like his excessive use of word play. “For instance, in one of his songs he has said, ‘Humne dekhi hai un ankhon ki mehekti khushboo.’ Okay, I accept that aapne khushboo dekh li (you were able to see something intangible). That’s poetic licence. But mehakti khushboo?Isn’t the basic nature of fragrance something that smells nice? It doesn’t stink, does it? Why overstate the obvious?”

Good versus bad poetry
Explaining the difference between good and bad verse, he says poetry should be free of unnecessary embellishments. “It should be easy to understand. I have never used excessive Persian words in my work. For example, let’s take the song Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan, sun ja dil ki dastaan written by Sahir Ludhianvi. A lesser poet would have added Aaja aaja baalma. That’s the difference between being good and being great. That’s what today’s lyricists lack. They need to ponder upon this difference.”

Today’s lyricistsNaqsh’s big grouse is that young writers today don’t push the envelope. They don’t want to go the distance. “Prasoon Joshi has potential but he is trapped in the Gulzar-like use of excessive imagery. Irshad Kamil borrows heavily from Punjabi folk. Where’s your originality? That’s taking the easy way out. Isn’t it a pity that there aren’t good young lyricists?” He derides the use of cuss words in lyrics. “DK Bose (Delhi Belly) isn’t good poetry. It’s a degradation of the medium. Don’t tell me that’s what the masses want because that’s a weak argument. The truth is listeners don’t have a choice.” People come to him for guidance and when he points out their faults, they say he’s being excessively harsh on them. “They tell me, Sameer se toh accha hi likha hai (But isn’t it better than what Sameer writes?). Yes, it may be better but do you have Sameer’s kind of luck? You aren’t born with his kind of destiny and don’t want to polish your craft either.”

His better half
His wife Kamlesh has been his pillar of strength through every twist and turn. Once, he was so frustrated that he almost burnt his files (of poetry). She stopped him by pointing out that it’s easier to put a lid on his anger than live with regret about losing his creations for the rest of his life. She gave him seed money to finance their first home. “I needed Rs 5000 as down payment and she brought out money which was hidden all over the house — under the mattress, in pillowcases, in the flour bin — and gave me the required sum. I was stunned but all she said was that women have to resort to such tactics to keep things going.” He says his wife never disapproved of anything, be it his drinking or his habit of eating paan. “The only thing she insisted on was that I come home in a taxi after a drinking session — for my safety as well as to stop me from meeting other people.”

Second guesses
He still writes actively for TV serials, though the offers have dwindled. Among his children, only son Rajan, who is a cinematographer and a writer has followed his footsteps. “They have witnessed my struggle, so have opted out. And it’s the right decision.” He would certainly want to change things around given another chance. “It feels great when you say I have lived life on my own terms. But my children and my wife had to suffer a lot because of that. Perhaps if I was less adamant, perhaps if I had compromised on my principles they could have had a better life. It’s important to hitch up with the right set of people. I never did learn to do that and as a result, lost out on plum assignments. Things would have been different if I had been shrewd or a better people’s person. I’m not bitter. I know we are a product of our choices. The irony is that wisdom comes with experience and while it’s good to be wise in hindsight, it’s never profitable.”