LYRICIST ABHILASH’S BOOK ‘SAFAR IK KHWAAB KA’ RELEASED BY ACHLA NAGAR AND ANUP JALOTA

Who can possibly forget the goose bumps raising anthem of the country ‘Itni Shakti Hame Dena Daata, Man Ka Vishwas Kamzor Ho Na’ which was first heard 36 years ago when you went to watch producer Subhash Dungarpur’s film Ankush directed by none other than N. Chandra? Jyothi Venkatesh

The versatile writer cum lyricist may not be alive amidst us but no one can easily forget him for any stretch of time ever since the profound impact of his work as a writer has inspired each and every one of us till date, though unfortunately and sadly he had passed away during the period of pandemic when he was 74 at his home in Goregaon, Mumbai. He was suffering from a stomach illness.

Veteran producer-director-actor Dheeraj Kumar and writer-director Sidharth Nagar took the initiative to organize the grand book release function of the late Abhilash’s collection of poems comprising 78 pages and called ‘Safar Ok Khwaab Ka’ on Monday at the Mini Banquet Hall of the celebrated Celebration Sports Club at the Lokhandwala Complex , in the presence of several celebrities who have been and are still well wishers of the late poet Abhilash, like the veteran singer Anup Jalota, music director Sharang Dev, veteran director Shubankar Ghosh ( of Woh Chokri fame) and his celebrity wife singer Soma Ghosh, comedy actor Jugnu, poet and journalist Hari Mridul and veteran writer Achala Nagar, who also happens to be the mother of Siddharth Nagar, actor Mithilesh Chaturvedi, actor Dinesh Daddu Chaturvedi, music director Kuldeep Singh, Rajesh Shrivastav, Publisher of Films Today, Mangesh and last but not the least his widow Neera. Also present were PR Himanshu Jhunjhunwala, actress Ekta Jain, Col.

Sood, Navin Kumar etc, actor-director Santosh Gupta, the pretty actress Shruti Ulfat, besides of course yours truly as well as yet another senior journalist Indramohan Pannu.

Born on 13 March, 1946 in Delhi, Abhilash started writing poems at the young age of just 12.

His real name was Om Prakash and he had also penned a few ghazals and stories which were published under this name before starting his career in the music industry.

In a career spanning over five decades, Abhilash also penned songs like Sansar Hai Ik Nadiya for films like Raftaar (1975) and Awara Ladki (1975) and worked for composers such as Usha Khanna and Bappi Lahiri.

Besides his evergreen song for N Chandra’s film Ankush, Abhilash also wrote songs like for films like Tere Bin Soona Mere Man Ka Mandir in Sawan Ko Aane Do (1979), Jeete Hain Shaan Se (1988) and Hulchul (1995).

His song ‘Itni Shakti Hame Dena Daata’ has been translated into eight languages and is now being played as a prayer song across schools and other institutions in Pakistan even today.

The film Ankush was also the launching pad for Nana Patekar and starred Ashalata Wabgaonkar, Nisha Singh, and Madan Jain in pivotal roles.

His wife Neera and neighbors performed the final rites since his married daughter was unable to travel to Mumbai from Chennai due to lockdown restrictions.

His non-film songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar have a long shelf life too, especially 'Aaj Ki Raat Na Jaa' and 'Woh Jo Khat Tune Mohabbat Mein Likhe The Mujhko'.

While speaking in memory of the late Abhilash, at the event which was very ably anchored by none other than the pretty TV and film actress Shruti Ulfat who for strange reasons now prefers to be called Shruti Panwar, the veteran music director Kuldeep Singh lamented that the late lyricist was not paid any royalty due to him as the writer of the iconic song by Gulshan Kumar of T Series, which had bought the rights for the three songs in the film Ankush for just a meager amount of Rs 15,000 from the producers Subhash Dungarpur and N Chandra, who had produced the film Ankush in a small budget of just 12 lakhs at that time.

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