Gopaldas Neeraj

Gopaldas Saxena 'Neeraj' (popularly known as Niraj or Neeraj) is among the best-known poets and authors in Hindi literature. He is also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He was born in the small village Puravali of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, India on 4 January 1924. He wrote under the pen name "Neeraj". His style is considered easy to understand, but has also been compared with high quality Hindi literature. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Besides writing, he earned his living teaching in a college and was a Professor of Hindi Literature in Aligarh.^{[citation needed]} Several of his poems and songs have been used in Hindi movies and are considered famous. He wrote songs for several Hindi Movies and attained a unique position as a songwriter who wrote with equal facility in both pure Hindi as well as Urdu as opposed to Hindi-Urdu mix, which is increasingly becoming more common. But as per the needs and requirements of the Hindi Film Industry, the majority of his songs are nonetheless, in mixed but chaste Hindi-Urdu languages.

In the television interview, Gopaldas Neeraj called himself an unlucky poet which led to his stopping himself from writing film songs and confining himself to just writing and getting his poems published. The reason for this mentioned by him was that at least two or three prominent Music Directors of the Hindi Film Industry for whom he wrote very successful and popular songs, had expired. He mentioned the death of Jaikishan of the Music Duo Shankar-Jaikishan as well as of S.D.Burman or Sachin Dev Burman, for both of whom he had written highly popular film songs. The deaths of these Music Directors when they as well as Gopaldas Neeraj were at the peak of their popularity, left him very depressed and he made a decision to quit the film industry.

Writings that appear in movies

Neeraj's poems which appeared in Hindi Movies as songs only added to their popularity. all these songs are in mixed but chaste Urdu-Hindi languages.

Song	Movie	Singer
Likhe jo khat tujhe	KANYADAAN	Mohammed Rafi
E bhai jara dekh ke chalo	MERA NAAM JOKER	Manna Day
Dhiire se jaanaa khaTiyan me.n o khaTamal	CHHUPA RUSTOM	Kishore Kumar
Dil aaj shaayar hai	GAMBLER	Kishore Kumar
Jiivan kii bagiyaa mahakegii	TERE MERE SAPNE	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Maine kasam lii	TERE MERE SAPNE	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Meghaa chhaae aadhii raat, bairan ban gai ni.ndiyaa	SHARMILI	Lata Mangeshkar
Mera man tera pyaasa.....	GAMBLER	Mohammed Rafi
O merii o merii o meri sharmiilii aao naa tarasao naa...	SHARMILI	Kishore Kumar
Phoolon ke rang se, dil kee kalam se...	PREM PUJARI	Kishore Kumar
Rangeela re, Rangeela re, mere man me yoon ranga hai tera mann...	PREM PUJARI	Lata Mangeshkar
Sho(w)khiyon mein ghola jaye phoolon ka shabaab, Usme phir milayee jaaye, thodee see sharaab, Hoga yoon nashaa joh taiyyar, woh pyaar hai...	PREM PUJARI	Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar
Raadhaa ne maalaa japi shyaam kii	TERE MERE SAPNE	Lata Mangeshkar
Karawan gujar gaya, gubar dekhte rahe	NAI UMAR KI NAI FASAL	Mohammed Rafi
Subaha na aayee, shaam na aayee...	CHA CHA CHA	Mohammed Rafi
Aaj madhosh hua jae re mera man, mera man, mera man sharaarat karne ko lalchaye re mera man, mera man, mera man.......	SHARMILI	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Khilte hain gul yahaan, khile ke bikharne ko milte hain dil yahaan, milke bichharhne ko.....	SHARMILI	Kishore Kumar

A couple of verses from his writings, which were adopted in movies, are below with their English translation

External links

• Gopaldas Neeraj at Kavita Kosh
• C.M. announces Rs. 20 lakh assistance for Gopaldas Neeraj Foundation
• International Hindi association features Gopaldas Neeraj
• Neeraj at the Internet Movie Database
• Life and work of Neeraj
• भारतीय साहित्य संग्रह में नीरज की कृतियाँ
• [1] An account from the Atlanta appearance by the poet Neeraj which took place in October 2004

Persondata
Name	Neeraj, Gopal Das
Alternative names
Short description	poet, author
Date of birth	4 January 1924
Place of birth	Puravali of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, India
Date of death
Place of death