Nagpur, 11 May

(HS); The shayar who penned popular song ‘Tum to thahre pardeshi, saath kya nibhaoge…’

of 1990s, Zaheer Alam,died in Nagpur on Sunday evening. Even when the song was

very popular the writer of the song was not known. The song sung by Altaf Raja

and was included in a music album. Zaheer Alam, however, was paid a small

amount for this popular song. He was then working with Nagpur’s Empress Mill,

which later closed.

The popular song

could not alleviate Zahree Alam from extreme poverty. Initially Qawwali singer

Kiran Patankar used to sing the song in her stage programmes, which later was

included in a music album in Altaf Raja’s voice and became popular within a few

days. The music album owner paid Zaheer only Rs 3,000 and later included in a

film on a condition that Zaheer Alam’s name will not be shown on the credit line.

The song was credited to other lyricist who wrote other songs for the film.

Zaheer Alam’s

another song was also included in another film. However, here too his name did

not appear.

Zaheer Alam lived

till last in a small hut in Mominpura area of Nagpur, and died on Sunday as an

unsung hero of popular song ‘Tum to thahre pardesi..’

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar