Verma Malik (13 April 1925 – 15 March 2009) was a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film songs A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not ap ...

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

. He was an active freedom fighter during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. He wrote many patriotic songs and

bhajan Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

s and recited them immediately prior to penning lyrics for films.

Early life and career

Born as Barkatrai Malik, he took name of Verma Malik on the advice of music director

Hansraj Behl Hansraj Behl (19 November 1916 – 20 May 1984) was an Indian music composer, who composed music both for Hindi and Punjabi films. Early life and education Born in Ambala, British Punjab, Hansraj received his early education in music from ...

who helped him in the beginning of his career in the

Indian film industry The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

. He penned lyrics for the first time for a song in film ''Chakori'' (1949). Later he wrote songs for other films including ''Jaggu'' (1952), ''Shree Nagad Narayan'' (1955), ''Mirza Sahiban'' (1957), ''CID 909'' (1957), ''Taqdeer'' (1958).Film songs of Verma Malik on hindigeetmala.net website
Retrieved 10 September 2019 He remained away from the film industry for almost 7 years after 1961. He then wrote songs for ''Dil Aur Mohobbat'' (1967).Complete filmography of Verma Malik on cinestaan.com website
Retrieved 10 September 2019. His first big break in Hindi-language films was in ''Yaadgaar'' (1970) by

Manoj Kumar Harikrishan Goswami (born 24 July 1937), better known by his screen name Manoj Kumar, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic theme ...

. He is known for writing the song "Ek Tara Bole". In the same year, ''Pehchan'' (1970) got him much attention and he became a prominent film song lyricist for

. He wrote nearly 500 film songs during his career. The songs of Roti Kapda Aur Makaan were the biggest hits of his career. Baaki kuchh bacha to mehngai maar gayi finished No 1 in Binaca Geet Mala's 1975 annual ranking. The program's song no 2 that year was Hai hai yeh majboori from the same film. Both were written by Varma Malik.

Filmography

* ''Chhai'' (1950) - a Punjabi language film * ''

Kaude Shah ''Kaude Shah'' (also spelled as ''Koday Shah'' or ''Kode Shah'') is a 1953 Indian Punjabi-language film directed by S.P. Bakshi (Shanti Prakash Bakshi). The film stars include Daljit, Shyama, Miss Manju, Thakur Ramesh Nagpal, Chand Burqe, Ra ...

''(1953) - a Punjabi language film * ''Vanjara'' (1954) -a Punjabi language film * '' Dost'' (1954) * ''Mirza Sahiban'' (1957) - a Punjabi language film * ''Taqdeer'' (1958) * '' Bhangra'' (1959) - a Punjabi language film * ''

Do Lachhian ''Do Lachhian'' ( pa, ਦੋ ਲੱਛੀਆਂ) is a 1960 (sometimes written 1959) Punjabi film directed by Jugal Kishore, starring Gopal Sehgal, Daljeet, Indira Billi and Krishna Kumari in lead roles. Synopsis ''Do Lachhian'' is a romanti ...

'' (1959) - a Punjabi language film * '' Guddi'' (1961) - a Punjabi language film * ''

Main Jatti Punjab Di ''Main Jatti Punjab Di'' is a romantic Punjabi film released in 1964. The film was directed by Baldev S. Jhingan. Plot Preeto ( Nishi) is a beautiful girl of a handicapped father, her mother is dead. She loves her father and takes responsibili ...

'' (1964) - a Punjabi language film *''

Mama Ji ''Mama Ji'' ( pa, ਮਾਮਾ ਜੀ), also spelled incorrectly as ''Mamaji'', is a 1964 Punjabi film directed by Roshan Bhardwaj, produced by Gopal Saigal and S. P. Malhotra, starring Gopal Saigal, Indira Billi in lead roles. Synopsis ''M ...

'' (1964)- a Punjabi language film * ''Pind Di Kuri'' (1967) - a Punjabi language film * ''Dil Aur Mohabbat'' (1968) * '' Yaadgaar'' (1970) * '' Pehchan'' (1970) * ''

Sawan Bhadon ''Sawan Bhadon'' is a 1970 Bollywood film produced and directed by Mohan Segal. The film was the debut film for its lead pair Navin Nischol and Rekha. The other cast of note in the film are Jayshree T., Iftekhar and Ranjeet. The music is by So ...

'' (1970) * '' Paras'' (1971) * ''

Balidan ''Balidan'' also called ''Sacrifice'', is a 1927 Indian silent film directed by Naval Gandhi and based on a play by Rabindranath Tagore. It was produced by Orient Pictures Corporation. Balidan is cited as one of the top ten lost films of Indian ...

'' (1971) * '' Hum Tum Aur Woh'' * '' Shor'' (1972) * ''

Be-Imaan ''Be-Imaan'' () is a 1972 Hindi-language film directed by Sohanlal Kanwar. The film stars Manoj Kumar, Raakhee, Premnath, Pran, Prem Chopra and Tun Tun. The music is by Shankar Jaikishan. The film was remade in Tamil as '' En Magan'' with Siva ...

'' (1972) * '' Victoria No. 203'' (1972) * '' Anhonee'' (1973) * '' Roti Kapda Aur Makaan'' (1974) * '' Ek Se Badhkar Ek'' (1976) * '' Nagin'' (1976) * ''

Jaani Dushman ''Jaani Dushman'' () is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language horror film produced and directed by Rajkumar Kohli under the Shankar Movies banner. It features an ensemble cast including Sunil Dutt, Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Mehra ...

'' (1979) * '' Shakka'' (1981) * '' Do Ustad'' (1982) * ''

Hukumat ''Hukumat'' () is a 1987 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by Anil Sharma (director), Anil Sharma, starring Dharmendra and Rati Agnihotri, while Swapna (actress), Swapna and Sadashiv Amrapurkar play supporting roles. The movie became ...

'' (1987) * ''Waaris'' (1988 film)

Awards and recognition

Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist The Filmfare Lyricist Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The awards were first given in 1954; however, the Award for the best lyricist was first given in 1959. List of winners 1 ...

for ''Pehchan'' and again for ''

'' (1972).

Death and legacy

Verma Malik died on 15 March 2009 at

Juhu Juhu (Pronunciation: ͡ʒuɦuː is a posh and upmarket neighbourhood of Mumbai. It is known for the sprawling Juhu Beach. It is surrounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, Versova to the north, Vile Parle to the east and Santacruz to the south ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, India at age 83. He was a close friend of Pyarelal of the film music directors duo

Laxmikant–Pyarelal Laxmikant–Pyarelal were an Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Patil Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). He is known by the nickname “Pyromaniac” due to his flaming style of music. Laxmikan ...

. Pyarelal paid tributes to him by saying that he was a simple man and very proud of his work. He added that Verma Malik could blend traditional Punjabi folk songs into his film songs very well.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malik, Verma 1925 births 2009 deaths Poets from Punjab, India Punjabi-language poets Punjabi-language lyricists Hindi-language lyricists Indian male songwriters Urdu-language poets from India Hindi-language poets Filmfare Awards winners People from Firozpur 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century male musicians