Aziz Kashmiri-a poet, lyricist of Hindi and Punjabi songs.

BY: Archana gupta

The gentleman I want to write about today, is somewhere in the middle of the pack – his work is well known enough but he is certainly not a household name, nor would you readily find too much info on him via Professor Google (atleast I couldn’t 😦 ) and that is where the fun of exploration came in. Without any more ado, I present to you, Mr. Aziz Kashmiri, a poet, lyricist of Hindi and Punjabi songs and a dialogue/story writer for Punjabi movies.

Aziz Kashmiri’s family was originally from Kashmir but was settled in Punjab where he finished his basic education. While a student, he started writing poetry and started making a name for himself. His first break as a lyricist came in Himmat (1941) from Producer Director Roop Shori. He wrote 9 songs for this movie, MD was Gobind Ram – of these, Inhin logon ne le leena dupatta mora sung by Shamshad Begum seems to be the “original” of the more famous Pakeezah song – I’ll post it in comments and you tell me if the lyrics credit for the Pakeezah song shouldn’t have been ATLEAST shared with Aziz sahib…

Anyway, he went on to write lyrics for more films like Nishani (42), Paapi (1943), Shalimar, Badnaami, Khamosh Nigaahen, Rehaana (46) etc. But first major success came from 1947 Release Mirza-Sahibaan with the song “Haath seene pe jo rakh do” sung by Madam Noorjahan and Durrani ji under the baton of Pt. Amarnath (another A as MD 😉 ) and Pt. Husnlal-Bhagatram, not sure who should get the credit – have seen it given to both, one or the other in different sources, which incidentally is a long buried gem that I rediscovered today and is my main pick for the day. “Tum aankhon se door hue” and “saamne gali mein mera ghar hai” were other famous songs of the movie at that time, sources tell. 1949 brought the movie “Ek thi ladki” with “laaraa lappaa, laaraa lappa laai rakhda” that is to date popular enough and more like “Ghir ghir ke aaii badariya”.

He had a constant output through 50s with some fairly popular numbers like “Shama kahatii hai parwaane se” (Jalwa/ 1955), “Mausam aaya hai Rangeen” (Dholak / 1951) etc. High point of his career came in the mid-sixties (1966) when he teamed up with OPN in Ye Raat Phir na aayegi, Bahaaren phir bhi aayengii, Love and Murder and Aklmand. Rest of his output was from B grade OPN movies like Naseehat (zara dekhiye meri saadgi), CID 909, Shrimaanji etc. There were a few notable numbers here and there but not that much success. In all he wrote lyrics for only about 52 films from 1941  – 1974 and his lyrics have been mouthed by stalwarts like Madam Noorjahan, Shamshad Begum, Durrani saab, Latabai, Rafi sahib, Ashaji, Hemant Da, Talat sahib, Mahendra Kapoor and many more. He worked with various MDs like Lacchhiram, Vinod, Bulo C. Rani, Shyamsundar etc. in addition to the ones already mentioned before.

Aziz sahib has also written dialogues (Chaman, Guddi etc.) and lyrics (Chaman, Guddi, Billo, Madari etc.) for Punjabi films and worked with music directors like Hansraj Bahl, Sardul Kwatra, Vinod etc. in that domain.

As stated before, today’s pick is sung by Madam Noorjahan and Durrani ji under the baton of Pt. Amarnath (another A as MD 😉 ) and Pt. Husnlal-Bhagatram for Mirza-Sahiban, supposedly his first success.

दिल के ज़ख्मों पे मेरे प्यार का मरहम रख दो
बेक़रारी तो मिटे कुछ तो क़रार आ जाए

(courtesy :  Mr. Anil Bhargav’s book on Hindi Film Lyricists “Hindi Filmon ke Geetkaar” –
Archana gupta on sangeet ke sitare)

Mirza Sahiban (1947
Cast: Madam Noor Jehan, Trilok Kapoor, Roop Kamal, Rekha, Gulab, Mishra, Baby Anwari, Gope, Laxman, Amir Banu

Music by Husnlal-Bhagatram and Pandit Amarnath
Dialogue Writer – Aziz Kashmiri

EXTRA SHOTS ;)
He was one of the most popular lyricists in early 50s in punjabi films. He has some really lovely songs to his credit. Was quite close to Vinod and wrote lovely lyrics for him.

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