Who was Shailendra ?

The police, though, have so far been unable to trace either the goods or the goons.

His producing Teesri Kasam caused him several heartaches and it was also the ultimate cause of his death.

One suspect was caught but instead of interrogating him after remanding him in custody, the police allowed him to walk free after a cursory questioning.

But what bothered him was not the film's failure at the box-office, but that his investment in friends he trusted and loved went wrong.

Shailendra was admitted to the hospital on December 13 1966, but on his way he decided to stop at the famous cottage at the RK Studios to call on Raj Kapoor, where he promised R.K. that he would complete the lyrics for ‘Jeena yahan marna yahan†for Mera Naam Joker.

Shailendra’s admirers and film lovers would have definitely wanted to know about this horrendous incident with the son and daughter-in-law of a one-time leading film personality.

That was one promise he could never keep, for Shailendra died on the following day, which also happened to be birthday. Reading the following lines from 'Anari' can see his obsession for death:

The media takes great interest in incidents even remotely connected with film personalities.

They become headlines in the newspapers. But the brazen loot at the house of the son of the most popular lyricist of his time did not draw the media’s attention. Why? Because he was a Dalit?

Had such an incident taken place at the home of the family members of a Savarna icon, the media would have gone wild.

who cares if the son of a Dalit lyricist is robbed in broad daylight! It is being said that some brahmanical elements were very upset that a Dalit’s kin, instead of hiding his social status or being ashamed of it, was taking pride in it and declaring it from the rooftops.

Dalit genius Shailendra was the one of the most famous and gifted lyricists of his time.

The songs penned by him were immensely popular not only in India but also abroad. It was his songs that fetched global popularity to films like Awara. But his achievements were always ignored.

Neither the central nor any state government considered him worthy of any award. He deserved the Dadasaheb Phalke Award or even the Bharat Ratna.

Shailendra was born Shankardas Kesarilal in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan’s Punjab state) on 30 August 1921 into a Dalit family hailing from Dhuspur village in Bihar’s Arrah district.

His father Kesarilal Rao was a contractor at the military hospital in Rawalpindi’s Murree Cantonment.

Shailendra couldn’t develop a connection with his ancestral village as he mostly stayed with his father – first in Rawalpindi and then in Mathura. Most of the residents of his village were agricultural labourers.

Shailendra’s father fell ill, and faced with economic hardship, the family left Rawalpindi for Mathura, where his uncle worked with the Railways. But their situation did not change – so much so that Shailendra and his brothers were forced to smoke beedis to kill their hunger.

Fighting against these odds, Shailendra managed to study up to the intermediate level in Mathura.

Misfortune continued to chase him, though, and a time came when Shailendra, who had great faith in Shiva, started considering statues of gods and goddesses as mere pieces of stone. His only sister died because he could not afford her treatment.

In Bombay, he became an apprentice in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Matunga Railways. But the clatter of machines in the workshop and the glitter of the metropolis did not kill the poet inside him.

Many a time, his colleagues saw him sitting in a corner, pen and paper in hand, lost in his own thoughts.

After work, he used to spend time at the office of the Progressive Writers’ Association, locted across the road from the Regal Opera House of Prithviraj Kapoor.

Every evening, poets used to gather there. It was at the Opera House that he got aquainted with Raj Kapoor, who asked him to pen songs for his films.

His songs became so popular that soon he became a permanent member of the Raj Kapoor’s music team, along with Shankar Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri.