Many times you will be humming songs from “Ashiqui” or the musical of the year “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”. We might vibe on the music of the songs, but what is the first thing which attracts us to that song? Yes, its lyrics. Lyrics are the most important part of any song as they put meaning to the situation, and we are blessed to have many legendary lyricists in our industry and one such name is Sameer Anjaan. Sameer Anjaan turns 66 today. He has been working in the industry for nearly 40 years. All these years were full of amazing memories, some bitter experiences. According to him, the lyricist is the one who is closer to people and hence he is popular amongst them.
This great lyricist has written more than 3,500 songs till date. Some popular songs include “Ek Haseena Thi”, “Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan”, “Dheere Dheere Se Meri Zindagi Mein”, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Dhoom Machale”, “Sanam Teri Kasam” and many others. Not only millennials but even Gen Z kids know him for his words. His father, “Anjaan”, was also a lyricist, and thus it was obvious that his lyrics would get compared with his father’s. But whatever he is, he built it up. In an exclusive interview with Lehren, he talked about his career around his father with lyricist Anjaan. During the initial days of Sameer’s career, people thought that Anjaan would make him his assistant and Anjaan wrote lyrics and gave credit to his son. But it was never like that. Sameer said that his father’s presence was a blessing and a curse on his career. It was a blessing because he gained respect, dignity and people listened to him because of his father. But on the other hand, he would get compared to his father immediately.
He shared a memory when his father recommended him to Laxmikant-Pyarelal. He said, “my father told Laxmikant-Pyarelal ‘my son knows how to write (lyrics), you just make him write over something’. Laxmikant replied to him saying ‘Anjaan ji never tell this to anyone else again, as even if there is work he won’t get it.’ My Father asked why, he said ‘Baap ki dukaan baap ki hoti hain aur bête ki dukaan bete ki. Usko apni dukaan kholne dijiye (let him work on his own)’.” So, in this way, his father never interferes with his professional side.
He worked a lot in his initial days till 1995 but after that, his father died and Nadeem Saifee went outside India because of the whole Gulshan Kumar death controversy. He faced a hard time in his life. He has shared all these memories and his career after Nadeem’s exit in the exclusive interview with Lehren Podcast. Do watch this video here.
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