He was born on the 10th July 1921 at Bhopal. His father’s name was Munshi Ahmed Khan and Asad was his eldest child. His original name was Asadullah Khan. He had formal education in Faarsi, Arabic, Urdu and English. In due course, the world recognized him as Asad Bhopali.
At the age of 28, he went over to Bombay and became a film lyricist.But his whole life was a constant struggle. The release of every new film was like a dream come true — except that it remained just a dream.
Fortune never really smiled on him. After nearly half a century of this struggle, the man could have been forgiven for expectng some just rewards. But what actually awaited him was the funeral bier. He had a large family and everybody including his wife, sons,daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren cared for him with the utmost devotion in his last days. But all this was to no avail.
On the 9thJune, 1990, Asad Bhopali passed on at the dead of night. In a way, he epitomised his own song from the film “Moti Mahal”, released in 1952 :
Jaaega jab yahaaN se, kuchh bhi na saath hoga
Do gaz kafan ka kapRa, tera libaas hoga
In the stillness of that night, he was quietly buried in a corner of a local cemetery. Except for one or two, nobody from the city’s social,
political or even literary heirarchy came to offer prayers. Even today, hardly anyone knows where he was interred. Only his eldest son
Taj Mohammed Khan goes there regularly to offer Faateha.
courtesy : anmolfankar
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