Raja Mehdi Ali Khan

Who was Raja Mehdi Ali Khan?

Raja Mehdi Ali Khan was an Indian poet, writer and lyricist.

Raja Mehdi Ali Khan was born in Jehlum in undivided India. His early tutoring was under his mother Hebay Saheba soon after he had lost his father. Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal has acknowledged Hebay Saheba as a leading Urdu poet. S. Mukherji the partner in Filmistan Studio gave Raja Mehdi the poet a chance to write lyrics in his film Do Bhai. Songs like Mera Sunder Sapna and Yaad Karoge from this film became instant hits. In 1947, in spite of communal riots, Raja Mehdi and his wife Tahira decided to stay in India rather than migrating to the newly formed Pakistan. In 1948 his patriotism manifested in his songs Watan ki raah mein and Todi todi bachay from the film Shaheed starring Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal. Raja Mehdi worked with both established and new music composers. Madhosh was music composer, Madan Mohan's debut film with Raja Mehdi. He had been associated with music composers like Sachin Dev Burman, Iqbal Qureshi, Babul, S. Mohinder, Chic Chocolate and Rono Mukerjhi to name some. He has written some wonderful songs with C. Ramchandra and O. P. Nayyar. However, he formed an immortal team with Madan Mohan.