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Shailendra (lyricist)

Shailendra
शैलेंद्र.jpg
Background information
Birth name Shankardas Kesarilal
Born (1923-08-30)30 August 1923
Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan)
Died 14 December 1966(1966-12-14) (aged 43)
Occupation(s) Lyricist
Years active 1949–1966

Shankardas Kesarilal (30 August 1921 – 14 December 1966), popularly known by his pen name Shailendra, was a popular Indian Hindi lyricist. Noted for his association with the filmmaker Raj Kapoor and the composers Shankar-Jaikishan, he wrote lyrics for several successful Hindi film songs in the 1950s and the 1960s.


Shailendra was born in Rawalpindi, and brought up in Mathura. The native place of his ancestors is located in the Akhtiyarpur, Ara district of Bihar.

He came in contact with Indra Bahadur Khare at the Kishori Raman School. Both started composing poems, sitting on the rock located on the bank of a pond in between railway 27 quarters and railway line near to Mathura station. Afterwards Shailendra moved to Bombay for films and Indra Bahadur Khare got fame in Raashtreey Kavita.

Shailendra started his career as an apprentice with Indian Railways in Matunga workshop, Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1947. He started writing poetry during these days.

The filmmaker Raj Kapoor noticed Shailendra, when the latter was reading out his poem Jalta hai Punjab at a mushaira (poetic symposium). Kapoor offered to buy the poem Jalta Hai Punjab written by Shailendra and for his movie Aag (1948). Shailendra, a member of the left wing IPTA, was wary of mainstream Indian cinema and refused. However, after his wife became pregnant, Shailendra himself approached Raj Kapoor in need of money. At this time, Raj Kapoor was filming Barsaat (1949), and two of the film songs had not yet been written. For 500, Shailendra wrote these two songs: Patli kamar hai and Barsaat mein. The music for Barsaat was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan.


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