Yogeshji the great poet, lyric writer, who gave the hindi film industry so many wonderful lyrical gems like “kahin door jab din dhal jaaye (Anand),
“Rajnigandha phool tumhare”(Rajnigandha), Badi sooni sooni hai (Mili) and many more momorable songs passed away on the 29th of may 2020 at the age of 78. I have some memories of my association with him which i wanted to share.
Yogeshji also did a lot of work with me music composer Nikhil kamath , and also when i was earlier with my partner Vinay Tiwari (Nikhil vinay).
Yogeshji was not only a great poet but also a great human being with a very kind nature and was always helpful to all those who came his way. When i got a break in T series to compose songs for the T series music bank(1990) i approached many known lyric writers but they seemed very vary of working with a new composer and did not even pick up my phones. In sheer desperation my partner vinay and i went to yogeshji ‘s house at 12 o clock at night in the year 1990 ,and requested him to pen some lyrics for us.
With a smile on his face Yogeshji agreed and told us to send him the tunes or sing them so he could record them on his sony cassette recorder. He did not ask for any advance payment . Within 5 days he penned 12 songs for us and we than presented the songs to Anuradha Paudwal who was at that time hearing out many upcoming composers. Than when we played the songs to Shri Gulshan Kumar of T series, and he was very impressed with the tunes and the soulful simple lyrics of yogeshji. They were recorded for the t series music bank and thats how we got a good entry in T series.
The music of the films “Pyar Bhara Dil Pyar” and ” Chor aur Chand” and “Bewafa Sanam “proved to be a super hit and marked the comeback of lyricist Yogeshji and a new team of composers Nikhil vinay.
Yogeshji was always young at heart and very humble. He had no ego during our work sessions and loved to write extra mukhda’s and Antra’s.
He was a directors delight and he used to understand the pulse of the scene.He knew how to blend the lyrics into the tune and fit it into the situation. He would never ever show his ego and tell everybody that he had written unforgettable songs for great composers like Salil Chowdhury , SD Burman, RD Burman etc …
He was a delight to work with and adjusted himself to all our producers and directors.
He wrote almost twenty mukhdas for the hit song “Deewana Main Tera Deewana (English Babu Desi Mem) which starred Sharukh Khan and Sonali Bendre, which was composed by me. (NIKHIL VINAY). He always worked on each project like he himself was a newcomer. His main aim was to make each song a gem. Thats the sole reason his songs are always remembered by all even till this day.
My songs ” Sapnon main aana dil main samana”, lagne laga hai mujhe aaj kal , “Baat kya hai kaise kehde tumse raaz ki”. (Music Nikhil vinay) are still rememberd today.Director Pawan Kaul also also loved yogeshji’s approach to lyrics.
Yogeshji had one strong point and that was a deep passion for his lyrics and was very energetic in his approach. When we introduced him to Anand Rai who was than working on a tv serial “Teacher” and “Thoda hai thode ki jaroorat hai”, he, in the first sitting wrote on the spot the song “Door manzil hai teri tu akela hai maana.”which was sung by Abhijeet Bhattachrarya composed by Nikhil Vinay. The song created history on television and zee tv made teacher the 8pm slot serial. I used to receive so many calls from fans all over the world.
The greatest gift Yogesh ji had was in any situation he had a smiling face and was always humorous during very tense sittings. He always said “Humhe khush rehna chahiye kyonki hamara passion hamara profession hai. Kitne kam logo ko ye naseeb hai”. He was never over confident and always did a good amount of homework on all the tunes given to him.
He used to always tell me to do a puja and devote the song and your work to God before starting any project.when my partnership with vinay tiwari ended in 2004 i met yogeshji and we worked for an album with singer Toridattaroy and avinash agarwal.The albums broke all records . Yogeshji believed that all the talent he had was to be distributed to the universe and that was his funda. Make the world happy with your music and songs he often told me.
“Ye kala jo hamare paas hai, logo ko baato, logo ko anandeet karo, yahin apne jeevan ka udheshya banao”. “Make people happy with all you have”, spead your music and create happiness for all.
Whenever i used to feel a little down i used to call up yogida as i used to call him and discuss my personal issues also with him,and his advice was always fantastic and correct. He was a true friend and was always there when i needed him. I also worked with him on many Bhajan and devotional projects for T series. Yogeshji did not believe in approaching producers and felt those who appreciate his work will come to him. He also very shy and humble. He spoke softly and respectfully. HE WAS A TRUE LEGEND.
Many of my albums became super duper hits
I worked with yogeshji in the following film projects
1) Pyar Bhara Dil
2) chor aur chand
3) ye lamhe judai ke
4) Shohrat
5) English babu desi mem
6) Bewafa Sanam
7) yuhi kabhie
8)Ganga ka vachan
9)Dulaara
And more than 60 private albums.
