Unknown Facts about Shailendra: If you are a fan of Raj Kapoor’s songs, then you will also like lyricist Shailendra. Most of Raj Kapoor’s songs were written by Shailendra and both of them used to be good friends during that period. Lyricist Shailendra’s 100th birth anniversary was celebrated in the year 2023 and this year i.e. on 30th August was his 101st birth anniversary.
Lyricist Shailendra wrote many great songs in his time and also made some films. He had a bad habit of drinking and smoking a lot of cigarettes. But his talent made his shortcomings small. What kind of lyricist was Shailendra, how did he die, let us tell you some unheard things related to him.
Who was Shailendra?
Shailendra was born on 30 August 1923 in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) in British India. Shailendra’s full name was Shankardas Kesri Lal Shailendra. He was born in a Chamar family and lost his mother and sister when he was very young. Shailendra’s father worked in the military hospital in Rawalpindi.
In his teens, Shailendra came to live in Mathura. After living in Mathura for a few years, he came to Mumbai where he got a contractual job in the Indian Railways. During that time, Shailendra started writing poetry. Raj Kapoor noticed Shailendra and called him to his office. From here, Shailendra’s luck changed.
shailendra songs
Shailendra refused to write songs for films in Raj Kapoor’s office. But later he got married and when his wife became pregnant, he needed money. Then he went to Raj Kapoor and signed his film Barsaat (1949) for money. For this film, Shailendra wrote two songs (Patli Kamar Hai and Barsaat Mein) for which Raj Kapoor gave him 500 rupees.
After this, Raj Kapoor, Shailendra and Shankar-Jaikishan formed a team and gave many hit songs. They wrote the superhit song ‘Awara Hoon’ for the 1951 film Awara. This song broke many records. After this, Shailendra wrote many superhit songs like ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’, ‘Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh’, ‘Mera Juta Hai Japani’, ‘Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua’.
According to media reports, Shailendra wrote about 900 songs in his 17-year film career. He is said to be the greatest lyricist of Hindi cinema. Shailendra used to charge a hefty fee for a song, it is said that even Javed Akhtar or Gulzar did not get that much fee till date.
death of shailendra
In 1961, Shailendra invested a lot of money in a production company. The film made in it was Teesri Kasam (1966) starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. This film even won a National Award but flopped at the box office. Shailendra was very upset by this and then he started drinking a lot of alcohol. On 14 December 1966, Shailendra died at the age of just 43 due to liver failure.
