Dev Kohli (2 November 1942) is an Indian

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu * Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...

poet and

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 de ...

. He penned hundreds of songs in Bollywood films and churned out numerous hit songs such as ''Maaye Ni Maaye'', ''Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen'', ''Geet Gaata Hoon'',''O Saki Saki'' etc.

Early life

Kohli was born in a Sikh family in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After partition, his family moved to

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. He studied in Shri Giri Nanak Dev Guru Maharaj College. His father died in 1958.

Career

Kohli moved to Mumbai in 1964. He started searching for work in films. He started his career in 1969 with the film ''Gunda''. His first breakthrough came with "Geet Gaata Hoon Main" in the film ''Laal Patthar'' (1971). The song became a huge success. But it didn’t help his career much. He wrote lyrics for several films in the 1970s and 1980s, but went unnoticed. He again draw attention with ''

Maine Pyaar Kiya ''Maine Pyar Kiya'' () is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language romantic musical film written and directed by Sooraj Barjatya. Produced by Rajshri Productions, the film stars Salman Khan and Bhagyashree. It marked the debuts of Barjatya and Bhagyash ...

'' (1989) when songs like ''Aate Jaate Hanste Gaate'', ''Kabootar Ja Ja Ja'', ''Aaja Shaam Hone Aayee'', ''Maine Pyar Kiya'' and ''Kahe Toh Se Sajna'' became hits. In the 1990s, He developed a remarkable collaboration with

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is an Indian National Award and Filmfare Award winning musician, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film in ...

, for whom he wrote songs like "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen" in

Baazigar ''Baazigar'' () is a 1993 Indian romantic crime thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan and produced by Venus Movies. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles, while Raakhee, Shilpa Shetty, Dalip Tahil, Siddharth Ray, and Johnny Lever ...

(1993), "Dekho Dekho Jaanam Hum" in ''

Ishq Ishq ( ar, عشق, ''‘išq'') is an Arabic word meaning "love" or "passion", also widely used in other languages of the Muslim world and the Indian subcontinent. The word ''ishq'' does not appear in the Quran, which instead uses derivatives o ...

'' (1997) etc. In November 1998, former vice-president of political party ''Bharatiya Janata Yava Morcha'', Rakesh Sethi filed a case against Dev Kohli and singer Poornima for using vulgar language in the song "Ab Tak Hai Puri Azaadi" of the film ''

Kudrat ''Kudrat'' () is a 1981 Indian Hindi-language drama film, written and directed by Chetan Anand. The film stars Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini, supported by Raaj Kumar, Priya Rajvansh and Vinod Khanna. This is the second movie of the Rajesh Kh ...

'' (1998). A local court issued a non-bailable warrant against both on 1 April 2003.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohli, Dev Indian male poets Indian lyricists Hindi-language lyricists Indian male songwriters Indian Sikhs Living people 1942 births 20th-century Indian poets Poets from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian male writers