The real name of Indeevar was Shyamlal Babu Rai. He was born on 15 August 1924 in Barua town, twenty km away from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. Born in a poor family, Indeevar's parents had passed away in his childhood. His sister and brother-in-law took him with them, but he did not like it there and returned to his Barua home.
Amidst the scarcity and arrangements of food and drink, he became close to a fakir. That baba, who used to light a fire under a tree, used to write and sing himself. People used to donate money after listening to his songs. He never touched that money. Indeevar used to make all the arrangements for the baba with that money and also cook food. From there, he also developed a passion for writing songs.
Shyamlal Babu Rai now started writing under the name of Shyamlal Azad. Ramsevak Richaria came into his life like a messiah or a godfather. He not only edited his poems but also introduced him to kavi-sammelans. Soon poet Indeevar became famous in all the nearby areas and started earning a decent income. In this situation, he was forced to marry against his will and he fled to Mumbai. When he faced failure, he returned home. Meanwhile, everything started getting better in his family.
But success in Mumbai was written in Indeevar's fate, so he started writing for B and C-grade films when fate called him back. After this, he started climbing the ladder of success with the songs of the film 'Malhar' which came in 1951.
Indeevar started giving one great song after another to the cinema. He was also awarded the Filmfare Award for the song 'Dil Aisa Kisi Ne Mera Toda' from Amanush.
Remembering music composer Anand ji and Kalyan ji, Indeevar said in an interview that - Kalyan ji used to drop him home at 2 o'clock in the night and used to give him 100 rupees. He used to buy a book worth 90 rupees and save 10 rupees for himself. Kalyan ji also got him the film Saraswati Chandra whose song 'Chanchal Sa Badan Chanchal Chitwan' became very famous.
Another song of this film was 'Chhod De Saari Duniya Tere Liye Ye Munasib Nahi Aadmi Ke Liye.' In which Kalyan ji said that the word Munasib should be changed, some Hindi word should be used in its place. Indeevar said it cannot be replaced with proper, appropriate, or right. With great difficulty Kalyan ji agreed and that song could be recorded. After this, whenever that song was played, Kalyan ji used to give 100 rupees to Indeevar for it.
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How Did Indeevar Bring Respect to Hindi When Urdu and Persian Were Dominant in Bollywood? , बॉलीवुड की उर्दू और फारसी को कैसे हिन्दी से रिप्लेस किया इंदीवर ने?,