A tribute to Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), the lyricists in tandem, on Shailendra’s 96th birth anniversary
A common refrain of the readers from time to time has been that the lyricists have not been given due importance on this blog. A new reader Neeruahaf, who has been actively participating for some time, has also mentioned this and strongly suggested, while commenting during the discussion on the songs of 1946, that I introduce an award for the best lyricist of the year too. I have explained that my reasons are twofold: one is practical, it only creates another overlapping category for mapping the songs. And two, it is accepted that we remember songs by the films, singers and music directors, and rarely by the lyricists. As an illustration I mentioned Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), who featured together as lyricists in most of the films composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. I doubt if there is any tell-tale sign to determine who wrote which song. Let us examine this further as a tribute to the two lyricists, who worked in tandem a great deal, on the 96th birth anniversary of Shailendra.