Gopal Das Neeraj. The name needs no introduction in today’s world for he is the one who wrote songs and poems which are still being echoed in different parts of the nation to inspire someone, to motivate some one, to express love for someone and to bring out pain for someone.
Today is the birthday of this great Indian author, songwriter and poet named Gopal Das Neeraj. He contributed great poems to Hindi literature and mainly known for his amazing songs and poems which were even used in several Indian movies. Many of his books and compositions won applause from his followers world over.
He was born on 4 January 1925 at Puravali in Uttar Pradesh. He used to teach Hindi Literature professionally in a Dharma Samaj College and after that he became a chancellor of Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, UP. He used to write songs in Hindi and Urdu. He was married with a women named Savitri Devi [1945-2001} from which he had children named Mila, Prabhat and Gunjan.
His soulful lyrics made whole world sing. For his lyrics in Bollywood films, he won 3 back-to-back Filmfare awards in 70s. He had done many Bollywood chartbusters.
He also won Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2007 but as a result of indulging politics in literature, he alleged that those returning their awards were the “yes men” of the Congress party. He had also shown his regret in indulging politics in it. In an interview, he called himself unlucky poet who had to concentrate on poetry instead of writings songs.
Sadly, he died at the age of 93 on July 19, 2018, in New Delhi at the age of 94. He was suffering from lung infection and had head injury. As he had already suffered from several old age-related aliments for the past few years.
His death came up as an irreparable loss to our Bollywood industry as well as to our country. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath even announced institution of an annual award in the memory of late poet, to be given away to five young poets.