A journey from ‘Benaras to Bombay’ that changed poet Anjan’s life

A 23-year-old youth from Varanasi, afflicted with asthma, landed in Mumbai in 1953 after doctors advised him to settle in a city on the sea coastline. But the medical advice was not the only reason that took him to the tinsel town.

A promise by playback singer Mukesh, who once visited Varanasi and heard some poems written by him, to introduce him to Raj Kapoor whenever he would come to Mumbai was a stronger motivating factor.

Lalji Pande, born in Oddar village of Varanasi on October 28, 1930, was the first youth amongst scores of neighbouring villages to complete graduation. His father worked in a bank and wanted him to follow in his footsteps. But Lalji, who later adopted nom de plume Anjaan, was interested in literature – poetry in particular. He would attend kavi sammelans and mushairas in Varanasi where he started getting recognition as a poet.

When Mukesh came to town, he stayed in a hotel owned by a friend of Lalji who facilitated his meeting with the renowned singer. However, going to Mumbai was still a distant dream, but his ailment later became a blessing in disguise.

When Lalji met Mukesh in Mumbai, he kept his promise and introduced him to Raj Kapoor. Kapoor appreciated his poetry but gave him a sobering advice. He told the young man that poetry and lyric writing were two different things. He would have to hone his skills for song writing and that would take at least 10 years.

‘Aapke hasin rukh pe aaj bada noor hai’’ 

And the great showman’s words turned out to be prophetic. Though Anjaan got his first assignment in 1954 in Prem Nath’s ‘Prisoner of Golconda’, he had to wait till 1966 to deliver a major hit song ‘Aapke hasin rukh pe aaj bada noor hai’ in Dharmendra-Mala Sinha starrer ‘Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi’, produced by Guru Dutt. The song, composed by OP Nayyar, was sung by Mohammad Rafi.

‘Bina badra ke bijuriya kaise chamke’

This was followed by ‘Bina badra ke bijuriya kaise chamke’ in GP Sippy’s Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaj starrer ‘Bandhan’ (1969) that became an instant hit with its Bhojpuri dialect striking a chord among the listeners. The song was composed by Kalyanji Anandji and rendered by Mukesh.

The song also became a precursor for his iconic hit ‘Khai ke paan Benaras wala’ from Amitabh Bachchan-starrer ‘Don’ (1978) that brought him to pinnacle of success in lyric writing.

With Kalyanji Anandji, he got to write songs in Amitabh Bachan’s ‘Do Anjane’ (1976), followed by Prakash Mehra’s Bachchan-Vinod Khanna-starrer ‘Hera Pheri’ (1976), wherein his ‘Barson purana ye yarana’ became a hit song.

‘Muqaddar ka Sikandar’

Then happened ‘Muqaddar ka Sikandar’ (1976), another Bachchan-Vinod Khanna-starrer by Prakash Mehra, which had Rekha and Rakhi in the lead female roles. The movie had a string of superhit songs by Anjan such as ‘Salam-e-ishq meri jaan zara qubool kar lo’, Rote huye aate hain sab’ (title song), ‘O saathi re, tere bina bhi kya jeen’, ‘Dil to hai dil’ and ‘Pyar zindagi hai’.

‘Khai ke paan Benaras wala’

In 1978 came Amitabh Bachchan-starrer ‘Don’, in which Anjaan’s Bhojpuri magic worked again. ‘Khai ke paan Benaras wala’ became a super-duper hit, though the number was incorporated in the movie a week after it was released as it got a slow start. Industry observers say the song played a significant role in the movie’s phenomenal success.

Interestingly, Kishore Kumar had reportedly shown reluctance to sing this song initially, taking exception to words like ‘chakachak’ in the couplet that preceded it – ‘Bhaang ka rang jama ho chakachak’, besides expressions like ‘khai ke’ instead of ‘kha ke’. Anjaan had to do a lot of persuasion to convince him about the linguistic validity of these expressions.

Another song from the movie ‘Ee hai Mumbai nagariya tu dekh babua’ with Bhojpuri flavour became a chartbuster in those times.  

Anjaan also wrote lyrics for Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Ganga ki Saugandh’ (1978) in which his number ‘Maano to main Ganga maan hun’ got acclaim.

‘Sharabi’ euphoria

In Sharabi (1884), again a Bachchan-starrer, Anjaan teamed up with Bappi Lahiri to give a series of hit numbers. ‘De de pyar de’, ‘Inteha ho gayi intezar ki’, Mujhe nau lakha manga de re’, ‘Manzilen apni jagah’ and ‘Log kehte hain main sharabi hun’ (title song) all became chartbusters.   

Though in Bachchan-starrer ‘Aaj ka Arjun’ (1990), he once again came up with a chartbuster ‘Gori hai kalaaiyan’, but his health deteriorated in the 90s. When Anjaan passed away on September 13, 1997, he had already penned over 1,500 songs for more than 300 movies.

Passing on his legacy to son Sameer

Anjaan initially did not want his son Sameer to follow in his footsteps as he himself had to struggle a lot to get a foothold in Bollywood. Sameer, who got employed in a bank and quit after a day’s work, came to Mumbai and stayed there for a year without intimating his father. When Anjaan’s wife informed him of their son’s presence in Mumbai, a meeting between the son and the father was arranged by a relative in a hotel.

Recalling the meeting, Sameer said in an interview, “My father asked me if I had ever fallen in love. I was amazed at the question but replied honestly. I said ‘yes’.  He said as in love, your beloved can either be ‘bawafa’ (loyal) or ‘bewafa’ (disloyal). But the true lover is one who remains steadfast in love, irrespective of his beloved’s response. So is the case in this film industry. You have to be consistent, irrespective of success or failure.”

Anjaan also told Sameer to take practical training for a year with him before taking to song writing. He took him to all the composers for whom he was working. For every tune Anjaan received for writing a lyric, he made his son also to write a ‘mukhda’ (refrain). He would take the refrains written by both of them to every composer. “After a couple of years, when one of my refrains was preferred by a composer, he allowed me to start my career in lyric writing,” said Sameer who later became the lyricist with the highest number of songs to his credit in the Guinness Book of World Records. – India News Stream