Asad Bhopali was born on 10th July 1921 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, as Asadullah Khan. He completed his basic education from Bhopal. Since his college days he was very fond of Sher-O-Shayari and he used to write and sing his shayaris at his college gatherings and mushairas.
After the partition he migrated to Bombay. He stuggled a lot to get into the film industry. Two years and a lot of visits to studios later, Asad got his first break in the film 'Duniya' in the year 1949. C Ramchandra was the composer, Asad wrote two songs for Duniya, 'Rona Hai To Chupke Se Ro...' was rendered by
Mohd. Rafi and 'Armaan lute Dil Toot Gaya...' was sung by
Suraiyya. The film could not do well and his work also went unnoticed. In, 1950, he got to write songs for Nirdosh and Aadhi Raat, but again he went unnoticed. It was his luck that his name appeared in the film credits and thats what kept him alive in the industry. Then came Afsana (1950). The music was composed by the popular duo
Husnlal Bhagatram. This time Asad wrote his heart out and it paid him as well. For Afsana he wrote six songs. 'Wo Paas Reh Kar Bhi Paas Naheen..' and ' Qismat Bigdi Duniya Badli...' , the former was sung by
Lata Mangeshkar and the latter was by
Mukesh. Both songs became very popular and Asad was now a well known songwriter.
Despite the success of Afsana, Asad did not get many songs to write in the following years. He wrote only one song for the 1951 release Rajpoot, which was sung by Madhubala Jhaveri. The writer struggled to get some work but he could not fight his destiney. There were much bigger and well established poets and writer in the industry and Asad had to fight hard. But he kept his head down and wrote whatever came his way. From 1949 to 1989 he wrote around 400 songs.
His most successfull work came with the 1963 release Parasmani which was eventually the first film of the composer duo
Laxmikant Pyarelal.
Asad wrote 'Hansta Hua Noorani Chehra...' and ' Wo Jab Yaad Aaye Bahut Yaad Aaye...' both the songs were instant hit.Asad kept on writing songs at his own pace but he could never get the recognition he deserved. In 1989, he got to write the songs for Rajshri's 'Maine Pyar Kiya'. Considering the taste of the changing times he wrote 'Kabootar Ja Ja Ja..', 'Mere Rang Mein Rang Ne Wali..', 'Dil Diwana Bin Sanjan Ke Maane Na..' etc. The music of Maine Pyar Kiya broke all the records and became a runaway hit across the country. Asad probaby hit the bulls eye with the songs of 'Maine Pyar Kiya' but destiney had the different plans for him. Asad suffered a severe paralytic stroke and his condition became worse day by day. Due to his poor condition his family took him to Bhopal. But that could not helped him either.
Finally, he left the world on 9th June 1990. Ironically, his song 'Kabootar Ja Ja..' won the prestigious
Filmfare award for the best song category. But probably it was too late for the songwriter to fight his fate.
