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Majrooh Sultanpuri

Indian Urdu poet and Hindi language lyricist (1919-2000)

Thirty-five songs in this catalogue carry his name, and one of them is the reason he has a page at all.

Wikipedia's article on Faisla credits no lyricist. It names the composer, it lists the songs, and it leaves the writer out entirely. The film's own press booklet says the lyrics are Majrooh Sultanpuri's - which is how a man with a Dadasaheb Phalke Award came to be missing from a film he wrote.

He was a doctor by training, in Sultanpur, who went to a mushaira, read well, and was told by Jigar Moradabadi to come to Bombay. He wrote for Hindi films for more than fifty years, from the 1940s to the 1990s, which is a span nobody else in the trade managed.

He also went to prison for it. In 1949 he wrote a poem against Nehru, refused to apologise for it, and served two years in Arthur Road jail. The story told afterwards is that he was offered release in exchange for an apology and would not give one.

In this catalogue he is on Mere Sanam, where every one of nine songs is his and the two voices are Rafi and Asha Bhosle; on Benaam, including Main Benaam Ho Gaya in Ahir Bhairav; on Watan Ke Rakhwale; and on Faisla, whose songs were recorded in the 1970s and not heard until 1988.

Dates and credits from Wikidata.

Songs

57 recordings in this catalogue.

Related films

Worked with

  • Faisla (1988)

    Wikipedia's article on Faisla credits no lyricist at all. The songs are his, per the film's own press booklet - a Dadasaheb Phalke laureate left off a film he wrote.

  • Mere Sanam (1965)

    All nine songs, with O. P. Nayyar composing and only Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle singing them - Pukarta Chala Hoon Main among them.

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2:02:10

Abhimaan (1973)

lyricist · 1973

2:38:23

Abhinetri (1970)

lyricist · 1970

4:08:26

Anamika (1973)

composer, lyricist · 1973 · 2 parts

1:57:10

Benaam (1974)

lyricist · 1974

2:51:09

Dil Deke Dekho (1959)

lyricist · 1959

2:48:50

Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977)

lyricist · 1977

2:14:23

Inkaar (1977)

lyricist · 1977

2:55:56

Jewel Thief (1967)

lyricist · 1967

2:58:02

Khud-Daar (1982)

lyricist · 1982

2:11:35

Kunwara Baap (1974)

lyricist · 1974

2:16:29

Patthar Ke Sanam (1967)

lyricist · 1967

1:51:06

Phagun (1973)

lyricist · 1973

2:37:38

Shagird (1967)

lyricist · 1967

2:46:25

Teesri Manzil (1966)

lyricist · 1966

2:18:38

Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)

lyricist · 1957