Sahir of course was peeved at his deep poetry being used in a nightclub setting. The song Tadbeer se bigdi hui takdeer bana le from Baazi became such a hit according to Dev Anand that at the Air Force station in Jodhpur, people would come in just to listen to the song. The Sahir-SD Burman combination took off with Baazi (’51) a film that marked the directorial debut of Guru Dutt. It was Sahir’s ability to bring nature into his love songs that makes the songs immortal. This song was used in Naujawan (’51) starring Nalini Jaywant and Prem Nath. Sahir spontaneously wrote, “Thandi hawaaein lehra ke aayein, rut hai jawaan, tum ho yahan, kaise bhulayein”. When Sahir went to meet him, SDB gave him the first few notes of a tune he was working on. Sahir’s break in Hindi films came from his meeting with SD Burman who was unaware of Sahir’s reputation as an Urdu poet. Sahir and his peers made lyrics as a way of moving the story forward and not just a summary of the preceding scene. The lyricists of ‘30s and ‘40s like Kidar Sharma, DN Madhok and Kavi Pradeep had written Sanskritized Hindi with strong nationalist undercurrents. One can think of Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakeel Badayuni, Rajinder Krishan, Shailendra, Kaifi Azmi, Hasrat Jaipuri who all contributed to the golden era of film music in Hindi cinema. The time was also ripe for Bollywood to accept several poets turned lyricist -many with strong roots in the Progressive Writers Movement. While poetry is written without any constraints, lyrics for Bollywood have to fit the melody, the situation in the film and must be in the language of the actors singing those words. In his fabulously well researched biography, Sahir Ludhianvi – The People’s Poet, journalist Akshay Manwani writes that Sahir’s reputation as a poet came in the way of his acceptance as a lyricist. At the age of 22, he had written his collection of Urdu poetry Talkhiyan (bitterness), a book that is perhaps second only to Ghalib’s in terms of popularity.

That he was a genius is without question. Whether it was because he insisted on getting a rupee more than Lata to establish equality with her or his ascribing the success of his songs to his skill alone that broke the best professional partnership he had with SD Burman. His poetry drew people to him and his ego ruined every working relationship sooner or later. Sahir Ludhianvi (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980) had the gift of a genius and perhaps the curse of one as well.

Songs sung by sd burman mp3 download