Anand Bakshi was probably the most prolific lyricist of his time. He started his life as an army man and there he learnt to wax lyrical in the language of the masses. He was an outstanding lyricist whose career extended over four decades; Anand Bakshi had more than 4000 songs to his credit. His work displayed a remarkable ability to blend with different eras and their distinctive demands. He was one of those few poets who expressed love in multitude of ways.

Early Life of Anand Bakshi
Anand Bakshi was born in Rawalpindi in the year 1930. Bakshi was an avid film buff who always dreamt of coming to Bombay and become a part of the popular Bollywood industry. His family was against this idea of his and rejected his proposal. He, therefore, ran away from his house and joined the Navy thinking that it would help him to reach Bombay. But this expedition of his was cut short because of a naval mutiny and then the partition of India forced him to rejoin his family in Lucknow.

Anand Bakshi"s Rise to Fame
In the year 1958, he had a chance meeting with the actor Master Bhagwan who offered him a job to write the lyrics for his film Bhala Aadmi (1958). After this movie, Anand struggled again until his big break in Mehendi Lagi Mere Haath (1962) and Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), both films by Suraj Prakash. However, it was the movie Milan that proved him to be a lyricist par excellence.

Achievements of Anand Bakshi
He is credited with the lyrics he had written for the movies Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Ek Dujhe Ke Liye (1981), Sholay (1975) and Amar Prem (1972) - the first two having been composed by Laxmikant Pyaralal and the last two by Rahul Dev Barman. Anand Bakshi has also worked with many renowned directors like Raj Kapoor and Subhash Ghai. He wrote the lyrics of over 4000 songs.

He was the only lyricist, besides Sahir Ludhianvi who made it a point to attend all the recordings of film songs where his lyrics were featured. Bakshi wrote the lyrics for the debut films of Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Kamal Hasaan, Rajnikant, Dimple Kapadia, Amriti Singh, Mahima Chaudhury and Arjun Rampal.

Awards of Anand Bakshi
Anand Bakshi has received a record breaking 40 nominations for his lyrics. He has a total of four Filmfare Awards for the best lyricist category to his name:
•`Aadmi Musafir Hai" for Apnapan in the year 1977
•`Tere Mere Beech" for Ek Duuje Ke Liye in 1981
•`Tujhe Dekha" for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in the year 1995
•`Ishq Bina" for Taal in 1999

In addition to Filmfare Awards, Anand Bakshi had also won the best lyricist awards at different events like the Screen and Zee Awards, the Stardust Hero Honda Awards, the Ruby Film Awards, the Aashirwad Film Awards and the Sushma Shama Awards.

Anand Bakshi`s career was at an all-time high until 30 March 2002, when he passed away in Mumbai (Bombay). He had been quite ill for a few months and had been undergoing treatment for cardiac-related problems. His death was a tragic loss to the Bollywood industry. The last released movie with his lyrics is Mehbooba (2008).