12 April 1937-07 August 2009
By Siraj Syed
Gulshan was a victim of the partition. His father had a construction business, and his immediate family were Shri Labh Chand Mehta, father of Roop Lal Mehta and Chaman Lal Mehta, incidentally both their families were victims of the partition riots where young Gulshan witnessed his father and his cousins' father killed in Labh Chand Mehta's haveli, in front of their own eyes. His elder sister at Jaipur, brought him and his elder brother up. After his brother got a job, they shifted to Delhi, where he graduated from Delhi University. During college, he began to write poetry. Luckily, he got a job in the Railways as a goods clerk, and the posting was at Mumbai.
Eleven years ago, I was in the prayer meet organised at the Arya Samaj on the passing away of Gulshan Kumar Mehta, aka Gulshan Bawra, Bawra being his pen name. An announcement was made that Gulshan Bawra had donated his body organs, which immediately elevated the esteem in which the audience present held him. Two of the many conversations I had with him came to my memory. Firstly, his simple statement that, for inspiration, he looks to two masters with similar sounding names, the Urdu poet-laureate Meer Taqi Meer, and in Hindi, he leans towards Meerabai. Secondly, his logic that the number of songs you compose or sing or write is immaterial; what percentage of them turn out to be hits is what counts. And by this yardstick, a huge percentage of his own songs will rank among hits, though he wrote only about 250 songs in a career spanning 50 years.
Gulshan was born in Sheikhupura, near Lahore, in undivided India. The Bawra suffix was given to him by distributor Shantibhai Patel, distributor of the film Satta Bazar. Before turning to lyric-writing, Gulshan was employed by the railways. 1959 marked his debut in a film called Chandrasena, which had music by Kalyanji Virji Shah. The song was ‘Main kya jaanoon kahaan laage’. By the next film, Anandji had joined big brother Kalyanji and their film Satta Bazar had the runaway hits, ‘Chandi ke chand’ and ‘Tumhe haad hoga’. Gulshan was one among writers of great name and fame, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra and Indeevar, and yet stood his ground. In 1961, he gave-up his job. Over the next 50 years, Bawra wrote some 69 songs for the duo. These included ‘Mere desh ki dharti’ (Upkar) and ‘Yaaree hae eemaan mera’(Zanjeer), both winning Filmfare awards for the Best Lyrics. Other hits were Rafoo Chakkar and Haath Ki Safai. In his last years, he served on the Board of Directors of the Indian Performing Rights Society.
His last release was Zulmi (1999), and his last hit was 'Le pappiyaan jhappiyaan paale hum' for Haqeeqat (1995), which landed Gulshan into a controversy for writing a vulgar song.
Some of his other hit songs were from the films: Pavitra Papi, Lafange, Shehzada, Yeh Vada Raha, Aap Ke Deewane, Boxer, Agar..If, Khel Khel Men, Awaaz, Agar Tum Na Hote.
Less known is his a career as a character actor, mainly a comedian. But he did quite a few films: Jija Ji (1961) Punjabi movie
Vishwas (1969)
Upkar (1967) (Song: Ayee jhoomke basant)
Pavitra Paapi (1970)
Pyar Ki Kahani (1971)
Jaane-Anjaane (1971)
Jangal Mein Mangal (1972)
Zanjeer (1973) (Song: Deewane haen deewanon ko)
Shehzada (1972)
Lafange (1975)
Agar... If (1977)
Aap Ke Deewane (1980)
Yeh Vaada Raha (1982)
Boxer (1984)
Basera
Shrikant
Among music directors, his most successful pairing was with Rahul Dev Burman, for whom he wrote approximately 150 songs. It is said that he used to charge Rs. 90,000 for a song, at a time when one could buy a flat for Rs. 60,000.
Gulshan Bawra died issueless. He had no children.
By Siraj Syed
Gulshan was a victim of the partition. His father had a construction business, and his immediate family were Shri Labh Chand Mehta, father of Roop Lal Mehta and Chaman Lal Mehta, incidentally both their families were victims of the partition riots where young Gulshan witnessed his father and his cousins' father killed in Labh Chand Mehta's haveli, in front of their own eyes. His elder sister at Jaipur, brought him and his elder brother up. After his brother got a job, they shifted to Delhi, where he graduated from Delhi University. During college, he began to write poetry. Luckily, he got a job in the Railways as a goods clerk, and the posting was at Mumbai.
Eleven years ago, I was in the prayer meet organised at the Arya Samaj on the passing away of Gulshan Kumar Mehta, aka Gulshan Bawra, Bawra being his pen name. An announcement was made that Gulshan Bawra had donated his body organs, which immediately elevated the esteem in which the audience present held him. Two of the many conversations I had with him came to my memory. Firstly, his simple statement that, for inspiration, he looks to two masters with similar sounding names, the Urdu poet-laureate Meer Taqi Meer, and in Hindi, he leans towards Meerabai. Secondly, his logic that the number of songs you compose or sing or write is immaterial; what percentage of them turn out to be hits is what counts. And by this yardstick, a huge percentage of his own songs will rank among hits, though he wrote only about 250 songs in a career spanning 50 years.
Gulshan was born in Sheikhupura, near Lahore, in undivided India. The Bawra suffix was given to him by distributor Shantibhai Patel, distributor of the film Satta Bazar. Before turning to lyric-writing, Gulshan was employed by the railways. 1959 marked his debut in a film called Chandrasena, which had music by Kalyanji Virji Shah. The song was ‘Main kya jaanoon kahaan laage’. By the next film, Anandji had joined big brother Kalyanji and their film Satta Bazar had the runaway hits, ‘Chandi ke chand’ and ‘Tumhe haad hoga’. Gulshan was one among writers of great name and fame, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra and Indeevar, and yet stood his ground. In 1961, he gave-up his job. Over the next 50 years, Bawra wrote some 69 songs for the duo. These included ‘Mere desh ki dharti’ (Upkar) and ‘Yaaree hae eemaan mera’(Zanjeer), both winning Filmfare awards for the Best Lyrics. Other hits were Rafoo Chakkar and Haath Ki Safai. In his last years, he served on the Board of Directors of the Indian Performing Rights Society.
His last release was Zulmi (1999), and his last hit was 'Le pappiyaan jhappiyaan paale hum' for Haqeeqat (1995), which landed Gulshan into a controversy for writing a vulgar song.
Some of his other hit songs were from the films: Pavitra Papi, Lafange, Shehzada, Yeh Vada Raha, Aap Ke Deewane, Boxer, Agar..If, Khel Khel Men, Awaaz, Agar Tum Na Hote.
Less known is his a career as a character actor, mainly a comedian. But he did quite a few films: Jija Ji (1961) Punjabi movie
Vishwas (1969)
Upkar (1967) (Song: Ayee jhoomke basant)
Pavitra Paapi (1970)
Pyar Ki Kahani (1971)
Jaane-Anjaane (1971)
Jangal Mein Mangal (1972)
Zanjeer (1973) (Song: Deewane haen deewanon ko)
Shehzada (1972)
Lafange (1975)
Agar... If (1977)
Aap Ke Deewane (1980)
Yeh Vaada Raha (1982)
Boxer (1984)
Basera
Shrikant
Among music directors, his most successful pairing was with Rahul Dev Burman, for whom he wrote approximately 150 songs. It is said that he used to charge Rs. 90,000 for a song, at a time when one could buy a flat for Rs. 60,000.
Gulshan Bawra died issueless. He had no children.