Lyricist Sameer Anjaan has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for penning the most number of songs in Bollywood: 3,524 for 650 films in a 33-year-long career. Apparently, there was no such category as the ‘most number of songs ever’ in the Guinness Book, but it was created to accommodate a new record.
Son of veteran lyricist Anjaan (Lalji Pandey), Sameer started his career as a lyricist in 1983 with Bekhabar. Later, films such as Dil and Aashiqui established him as the undisputed champion of romantic songs. He has three Filmfare awards in his list of accolades.
Here’s a playlist of Sameer’s most popular songs
Sameer’s collaboration with Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan made the ‘90s the most musical decade of the Hindi films. Aparna Pathak, whose biography of the poet is scheduled to hit the stands later this year, explains the reason behind his popularity. “Four popular Bollywood singers -- Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik and Anuradha Paudwal -- started their careers in the industry around the same time when Sameer too was trying to find his feet in Bollywood. Professional rivalries apart, all of them shared an unusual camaraderie among each other. Sameer was a hit both with the fans and the singers because he wrote songs that did not require dictionary to understand. He wrote in the language of the common people.”
{{/usCountry}}Sameer’s collaboration with Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan made the ‘90s the most musical decade of the Hindi films. Aparna Pathak, whose biography of the poet is scheduled to hit the stands later this year, explains the reason behind his popularity. “Four popular Bollywood singers -- Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik and Anuradha Paudwal -- started their careers in the industry around the same time when Sameer too was trying to find his feet in Bollywood. Professional rivalries apart, all of them shared an unusual camaraderie among each other. Sameer was a hit both with the fans and the singers because he wrote songs that did not require dictionary to understand. He wrote in the language of the common people.”
{{/usCountry}}Read: Remembering an ‘Anjaan’ lyricist!
Aparna adds: “He was very clear about the characters he wrote for. He said ‘a coolie can’t sing main duniya bhula dunga’. You know when people started calling him an item song writer, he came up with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. He was, in a way, reinventing himself.”
Follow @htshowbiz for more.
Get more updates from Bollywood, Taylor Swift, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.
Get more updates from Bollywood, Taylor Swift, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.