Gopal Singh Nepali

Gopal Singh Nepali (11 August 1911 – 17 April 1963) was an Nepali poet of Nepali literature and a lyricist of Bollywood(Cinema of India). He was the son of Rel Bahadur Singh and Saraswoti. He was born on birthday of Lord Krishna (Krishna Janmashtami). His association with Bollywood spanned around two decades, beginning in 1944 and ended with his death in 1963.Nepali ji, who made a separate identity as a film songwriter, has written about 300 songs in 54 movies. He was a poet of post-Chhayavaad period, and he wrote several collections of Nepali poems including "Umanga" (published in 1933).The names of famous poetry collections such as Umanga, Ragini, panchhi, Neelima, Himalaya ne Pukara etc. are notable in their important works. He also wrote collections of Nepali poem as 'Kalpana'.He was also a journalist and edited at least four Nepali magazines, namely, Ratlam Times, Chitrapat, Sudha, and Yogi. He was very respected along with his contemporaries Mahadevi Verma, Sumitranandan Panta, Suryakant Tripathi, Ramdhari Sigh Dinkar etc. His works have been included in course of different universities of Nepal. He was born in Biratnagar in the state of Province no. 1(Eastern Province). During Indo-Nepal war of 1962, he wrote many patriotic songs and poems which include Savan. He died on 17 April 1963 in Janakpur platform no. 2. He is also known for his work "The Newars: An Ethno-Sociological Study of a Himalayan Community" (1965), made into a book from his doctoral dissertation.

Important Fact

His lyrical bhajan, Darshan do ghanshyam nath mori (film: Narsi Bhagat, 1957), was used in the Hollywood film, Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Erroneously, the poem was attributed to Surdas. When spotted, this created a controversy.

Further reading

• Tikaram Upadhyaya. Gopal Singh Nepali (Nepali and Hindi poet), Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 978-81-7201-795-8