Shailendra

Indian film lyricist (1923–1966)

Nine films in this catalogue as a lyricist, and one of them he also wrote the dialogue for, which almost no lyricist ever did.

That film is Parakh, Bimal Roy's 1960 satire about a village that is sent a cheque and decides to hold an election over it. Shailendra wrote the songs and the spoken words, and it shows - the songs are not interruptions in it, they are continuous with the talk around them. O Sajana, Barkha Bahar Aai is from it.

Elsewhere: Madhumati, Anari, Chori Chori, Guide, Jewel Thief, Gumnaam, Mera Naam Joker, Kala Bazar - where Khoya Khoya Chand is his - and Aah. Plus Junglee and Brahmachari, which he split with Hasrat Jaipuri, and he won the Filmfare for Main Gaoon Tum So Jao in the second of them, beating Jaipuri's song from the same film.

He came out of the Indian Railways workshop at Matunga and the Progressive Writers' Association, and what he brought into Hindi film song was a plain speaking voice - the vocabulary of somebody addressing you rather than performing at you.

He produced one film, Teesri Kasam, which ruined him financially, and he died at forty-three.

Dates and credits from Wikidata.