Veteran lyricist Shailendra gets road named after him in Mathura

Mathura: Veteran lyricist Shailendra, who wrote several successful Hindi film songs in the 1950s and 1960s, has got a road named after him in Mathura, where he spent 10 years of his life before entering Bollywood.

District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar along with Municipal Council president Manisha Gupta unveiled the name plate at the naming ceremony held in the locality of Dhauli Pyau here.

Also present at the event were lyricist's two sons Manoj Shankar and Dinesh Shankar, who is a filmmaker, and his sister Amla Majumdar, among others.

Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Shailendra, at the age of seven, along with family moved to Mathura to live with his brother.

He started his career as an apprentice with Indian Railways in Matunga workshop, Mumbai in 1947. He started writing poetry during these days. Filmmaker Raj Kapoor noticed him and offered him work but Shailendra refused.

Later, however, Shailendra himself approached Kapoor.

During that time, Kapoor was filmin 'Barsaat' (1949), and two of the film songs had not yet been written. Shailendra wrote these two songs: 'Patli kamar hai' and 'Barsaat mein'.

The team of Kapoor, Shailendra and music composer duo Shankar-Jaikishan went on to produce many other hit songs. The song 'Awara Hoon' from the 1951 film 'Awaara', written by Shailendra, became the most appreciated Hindustani film song outside India at the time.

"I am surprised that till some time back people living in Mathura did not know that Shailendra was a resident of this town, though he could never forget the city and he used to tell us about his times here. There was hardly any day when he did not talk about Mathura," Amla said at the ceremony.

Kumar said, "It is a matter of great pride for people of Mathura that it made a wonderful contribution to the world in the form of Shailendra.

The lyricist's popular works include 'Awara Hoon', 'Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua', 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' , 'Aaj Phir Jeene Ki', 'Piya Tose Naina Laage Re' and 'Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh'.