Sameer (lyricist)

Sameer
Sameer in 2006
Born	Shitala Pandey, nickname Rajan (1958-02-24) 24 February 1958 vill. Odaar, near Benaras, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation	Lyricist
Years active	1984 – present
Website	Official website

Sameer (born 24 February 1958^[1]) is an Indian lyricist, writing primarily for songs in Hindi language films. He is a guinness world record holder for writing most number of songs. He was awarded this honor on 17 February 2016. His father is the famed Hindi lyricist, Anjaan (Lalji Pandey). He has won three Filmfare Awards.^[2] Recently, he announced his association with Tumbhi where he would nurture and review artists and their artwork.(2010). He also made an entry into the Guinness World Records for writing lyrics for most of the film songs.^{[3] [4][5]}

Biography

Sameer, officially named Shitala Pandey, but commonly known by his nickname Rajan, was born near Banaras, Uttar Pradesh. He earned a Master of Commerce degree at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, and started a new position as a bank officer at the Central Bank of India.^[2] However, a few days after joining, he left the job because, according to him, he "knew the bank was not my world".^[6] To pursue a career as a lyricist, he moved to Mumbai in 1980.^[6]

Career

Sameer started his career as a lyricist in 1983 with the film Bekhabar (1983).^[1] The first film song he recorded was Maar Ke Kataaree Mar Jaibe for the Bhojpuri film Bairi Saawan (1984) sung by Suresh Wadkar and Preeti Sagar. In 1990, he came into prominence with hit songs in films such as Dil and Aashiqui. He won his first Filmfare Award for the song Nazar Ke Saamne in the latter. In the following decades he emerged as a leading lyricist in Bollywood, writing the lyrics for over 500 Hindi films (4,000 songs).^[2][6][7]

According to Sameer, his inspirations have been lyricists Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anand Bakshi, and his father, Anjaan, a leading lyricist. He has said on several occasions that, "Whatever I am today is only because of my father."^[6][7]

Sameer won two additional Filmfare Awards in 1993 and 1994; one for the song "Teri Umeed Tera Intezaar" from the movie Deewana, and second for the song "Ghunghat Ki Aad" from Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. In 1998, he won Zee Cine Award for the "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Some of his most successful songs include songs in films like Beta, Saajan, Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1, Raja Hindustani, Anjaam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Fiza, Dhadkan, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Devdas, Raaz, Dil Hai Tumhaara, Ishq Vishk, Tere Naam, Asambhav, Fida, No Entry, Aksar, Dhoom 2, Saawariya, Race, Damadamm!, Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Son of Sardaar, Dabangg 2 and more.

The famous music composer duo Nadeem-Shravan chose Sameer as their lyricist for most of their works. Sameer authored more than 950 under the music composition of famous music composer duo Anand-Milind. Sameer has worked with other Music Director like Rajesh Roshan, Uttam Singh, Ilayaraja, Jatin Lalit, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Nikhil-Vinay, Anu Malik, Aadesh Shrivastava, Anand Raj Anand, Viju Shah, A. R. Rahman, Vidyasagar, Himesh Reshammiya, Ismail Darbar, Monty Sharma, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Sajid-Wajid, Pritam, Sanjeev-Darshan, Sachin - Jigar etc.

Personal

Sameer is married to Anita Pandey and the couple have three children: daughters Sanchita and Suchita, and son Siddhesh.^[1] His mother, Indira Pandey, lives with them.^[6]

A biography, "Sameer – A Way with Words" by Derek Bose was released by Amitabh Bachchan in 2007.^[2][8]

Awards and nominations

References

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