Kavi Pradeep

Kavi Pradeep (born Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi; 6 February 1915 – 11 December 1998), was an Indian poet and songwriter who is best known for his patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" written as a tribute to the soldiers who had died defending the country during the Sino-Indian War.

His first recognition came for his patriotic lyrics for the film Bandhan (1940). His status as a nationalistic writer got immortalised for writing a daringly patriotic song "Door Hato Ae Duniya Walo" (Move Away O Outsiders) in India's first golden jubilee hit Kismet (1943) because he was forced to go underground to avoid arrest immediately after the film's release that invited the ire of British government.

In a career span of five decades, Kavi Pradeep wrote about 1,700 songs and nationalistic poems including the lyrics for some 72 films, including hits like "Chal Chal Re Naujawan" in film Bandhan (1940) and "Aao Bachcho Tumhein Dikhayen" and "De Dee Hame Azaadi" in the film Jagriti (1954) In 1958, His Master's Voice, released an album of 13 songs with his lyrics. He was made the Rashtrakavi (National Poet), and came to be known as, Kavi Pradeep.

In 1997, he was honoured with India's highest award in cinema, the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, for lifetime achievement.

Kavi Pradeep was born Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi in 1915 into a middle-class Audichya Brahmin family in the small central Indian town of Badnagar near Ujjain. Since his early student days and later while pursuing graduation from University of Lucknow, he had a passion for writing and rendering Hindi poetry. Shri Girija Shankar Dixit, a local genius poet from Unnao District in Uttar Pradesh, was his first teacher who mentored his poetry skills( Girija Shankar Dixit was the eldest son of renowned poet Shri Balbhadra Prasad Dixit). He hypnotised the audience at kavi sammelans (poet's gatherings) with his inimitable style. It was during this time he adopted the pen name ("nom de plume") Pradeep. After graduating from Lucknow University in 1939, he decided to join a teacher's course to become a teacher.

Pradeep was invited to a Kavi Sammelan in Bombay where he was offered his first film Kangan (1939), by Himanshu Rai of Bombay Talkies. The film starred Leela Chitnis and Ashok Kumar. Pradeep shifted to Bombay and wrote four songs for the film, all of which became very popular, and sung three of the songs himself.

He next film was Bandhan (1940) produced by S. Mukherjee and directed by Gyan Mukherjee. The music director was Saraswati Devi. This time he wrote all the songs which became huge hits. The most notable is "Chal Chal Re Naujawan", which made waves since the Indian freedom movement was at a crucial juncture.

He worked on five more movies for Bombay Talkies which included Punar Milan (1940), Jhoola (1941), Naya Sansar (1941), Anjan (1943) and Kismet (1943). Kismet is known for its patriotic song "Aaj Himalay Ki Choti Se (Phir Hum Ne Lalkara Hai, Door Hato Ae Duniyawalon Hindustan Hamara Hai)" (From the peak of the Himalayas we are warning other countries to stay away from India as it is our country).