Gulshan Bawra

Gulshan Bawra Biography

Gulshan Kumar Mehta, best known as Gulshan Bawra was a very popular lyricist of Indian cinema who was associated with Bollywood over 4 decades. He penned beautiful lyrics for many memorable and evergreen songs of Hindi. “Agar Tum na Hote…” of Agar tum na hote, Mere Desh Ki Dharti in Upkaar , “Tu Tu hai wahi dil ne jise apna kaha ….” of Yeh Vada Raha, “Aati rehengi bahaarein …” of Kasme vade, “Kasmein waade nibhaenge hum…” of Kasme wade, “Wadaa kar ke sajna, tere bin …” of Haath ke safai,  Yaari Hai Imaan Mera of Zanjeer etc are among those memorable hits. In fact, he gave most popular songs to Hindi cinema, penned on the subject ‘Waada’ (Promises). He wrote lyrics for Kalyanji Anandji, Shankar Jaikishan, and R D Burman and though he spent 42 years in film industry, he wrote only less number of songs – around 250. Yet all of those songs remain popular till now.

He was born in the year 1937 in Sheikhupura, Punjab. His father was into construction business. He lost his father and a few of his family members and relatives in the riots that occurred during Indian partition and he witnessed the death of his father in front of his eyes. Later he was brought up by his elder sister at Jaipur. He completed graduation from Delhi University and it was in those days, he started writing poems. He reached Mumbai in 1955 and struggled to get an opportunity in movies.

His first break was given by Kalyanji Virji Shah of famous Kalyanji-Anandji duo for the movie - Chandrasena (1959). 'Main kya jaanu kahan laage’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar was that song. His first song for Kalyanji-Anandji duo was Satta Bazaar. He received Filmfare Best Lyricist Award twice for the movies – Zanjeer and Upkaar. Akshay Kumar-Twinkle Khanna starrer Zulmi in 1999 was his last song. He also played bit roles in movies.

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Updated: July 21, 2014