Hasrat Jaipuri

Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999) was an Indian poet and Hindi-film lyricist. Born Iqbal Husain in Jaipur, he wrote in Hindi and Urdu, and with Shailendra formed the lyricist pair of Raj Kapoor's films, composing for the music directors Shankar–Jaikishan. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist twice, in 1966 and 1972. ^{1 2 3}

He was born in Jaipur, where he studied English to middle level and then received his education in Urdu and Persian from his maternal grandfather, the poet Fida Husain "Fida". He began writing verse at about twenty. In later interviews he recalled writing a love poem for a neighbour named Radha — the poem Raj Kapoor later used in Sangam (1964) — and saying of it that love knows no religion, and that a Muslim boy need not fall in love only with a Muslim girl. ¹

In 1940 he came to Bombay and worked as a bus conductor at eleven rupees a month while taking part in mushairas, where Prithviraj Kapoor noticed him and recommended him to his son Raj Kapoor. His first recorded song was "Jiya Beqaraar Hai" for Barsaat (1949). Alongside Shailendra he wrote the lyrics for all Raj Kapoor films until 1971; after a long gap Kapoor called him back for Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) and three songs of Henna (1991). He also wrote the screenplay of Hulchul (1951), published collections of his poetry including Abshaar-e-Ghazal, and received the Josh Malihabadi Award and an honorary doctorate from the World University Round Table. His last film as a lyricist was Hatya: The Murder (2004). ¹

On his wife's advice he invested his earnings in rental property, which left him financially secure and free to work as a lyricist. He died in Mumbai on 17 September 1999 and was survived by two sons and a daughter. ^{1 3}