Today is Anand Bakshi’s death anniversary. So check out his Filmfare Interview from 2000.

His name unspools vignettes of tenderly written numbers like ”Chingari koi bhadke”(Amar Prem), “Saawan ka mahina”(Milan), “Bindiya chamkegi” (Do Raaste), “Main shayar to nahin” (Bobby), “Woh kya hai” (Anuraag), “Khilona jaan kar”(Khilona), “Teri pehli nazar ko salaam” (Ek Duje ke liye) and more recently “Tujhe dekha to”(Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge), “Le gayi,le gayi” (Dil To Pagal Hai), “Taal se taal mila”(Taal), in your mind. And like the Everready batteries, he’s still charged. And raring to go. Long after the others have fallen by the wayside.

With over 4000 songs under his belt, 38 Filmfare nominations, four Filmfare Awards in a career spanning 45 years, his is no mean achievement. At 70, Anand Bakshi’s certainly the most prolific lyricist of our times.

It all began in Rawalpindi during pre-partition. Cinema was still a nascent medium. Anand Bakshi reminisces, “There were times when I would sell my books in order to buy a movie ticket. My parents would scold me. But that never stopped me. I dreamt of coming to Bombay and doing something in films. Though I wasn’t clear what.” His natural talent for music made him popular among his friends.