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The Rediff Special/ A Tribute to Majrooh Sultanpuri

'Look what lyrics people are writing these days'

I have known Majroohsaab from my childhood. We worked with Chitragupt and then progressed from there, becoming arrangers for Kalyanji-Anandji.

Though Parasmani, our first film as music directors, was with Indeevar, we decided to do Dosti with Majroohsaab. And he gave us such beautiful lyrics. We worked together consistently after that.

He was such a great poet. We considered him the best in our times. And he was a great human being too. If I know anything about poetry today, it's because of him. He would point the meaning of each word and tell us if we were going wrong anywhere.

We were very close personally too. We are come from the same region of Uttar Pradesh. So our languages matched and our food habits were similar. Whenever I wanted to eat some UP dal or mutton, I would go over and aunty (his wife) would cook for us. She would also make great kebabs. He was fun to be with.

I met him about six months ago and he was disappointed with the way industry was functioning. He would say, "Munna (that's what he called me), look what lyrics people are writing these days."

He had a few financial problems, but he was the kind of person who took everything in his stride. He had seen life. But after the death of his son, I don't think he cared much.

We will miss him a lot.

As told to Sharmila Taliculam

ALSO SEE
Majrooh Sultanpuri dies of lung disease
Manna Dey: We belonged to an era when good lyrics were appreciated
Kundan Shah: He came close to being a genius

The Rediff Specials

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