The doyen of Hindi poetry Gopal Das Neeraj passed away on Thursday evening at the AIIMS trauma centre in New Delhi, at the age of 93. The Padma Bhushan awardee, suffered from a head injury after falling at his house in Agra said, Dr Rajesh Malhotra, chief of the AIIMS trauma centre told PTI.
Gopaldas Neeraj was awarded Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2007. Though he began his career as a poet, he has also penned many Bollywood chartbusters like ‘Karvaan guzar gaya, gubar dekhte rahe’, ‘Dard Diya Hai’, ‘Asawari’ and ‘Likh Likh Bhejat Pati’, which brought him much wider reputation.
Sad to hear of the passing of veteran poet and lyricist Gopal Das Neeraj. From “Prem Pujari” to “Cha Cha Cha” his compositions and film songs are still remembered, still heard and still stir the soul.
Condolences to his family, friends and admirers #PresidentKovind— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) July 19, 2018
The President and Prime Minister of India took to social media to express their condolences after the news of his death broke. While PM Narendra Modi wrote, “Shree Gopal Das “Neeraj” ji, revered by eminent poet, songwriter padamashari and padmabhushan, is an irreplaceable loss to the literary world, I pray to God the peace of his soul ,Lord! Give patience to their kin in this sad Bella”. President Ramnath Kovind noted, “Sad to hear of the passing of veteran poet and lyricist Gopal Das Neeraj. From “Prem Pujari” to “Cha Cha Cha” his compositions and film songs are still remembered, still heard and still stir the soul. Condolences to his family, friends and admirers #PresidentKovind”
Shree Gopal Das “Neeraj” ji, revered by eminent poet, songwriter padamashari and padmabhushan, is an irreplaceable loss to the literary world, I pray to God the peace of his soul ,Lord! Give patience to their kin in this sad Bella
— Narendra Modi (@rgvishvkarma) July 19, 2018
Before he gained name and fame as a lyricist, Neeraj had even worked in a Meerut college where, it is said, he was accused of not taking classes. Angry at the allegations, he quit the institution and joined another one in Aligarh where he taught Hindi.
The famed poet who was born in Purvali village of Uttar Pradesh’s Etawa district lived in Maurice road of Janakpuri, Delhi for some years, after which he moved to Bombay. A few years later, Neeraj again decided to shift back to Aligarh.
His son, Shashank Prabhakar told PTI that the poet was admitted to AIIMS yesterday. Neeraj’s body will be brought to Agra and then to Aligarh for cremation, he said.