Renowned Urdu poet and lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri died at his residence, family sources said. He was 88.
His daughter in law Tina Ghai said the lyricist did not open his eyes since last night after 7 PM and could not recognise anyone, except his daughter.
“He was in pain. In March and October his hip bone was fractured so he was in hospital. He had become a little disoriented and weak, his body at this age gave up,” Tina said.
His funeral will take place at the Oshiwara crematorium in the evening.
“He still had the desire to read Urdu poetry and had a backlog of stuff to read through. His one eye had stopped working but he still wanted to read and was yearning for it,” Tina said.
Naqsh was born as Jaswant Rai in the town of Lyallpur in Punjab (now in Pakistan). He first got break in the 1952 film “Jaggu” with the song “Agar Teri Aakhon Se Aakhein Mila Doon”.
He went on to write lyrics in films like “Chetna”, which was his first big break, followed by “Aahista Aahista”, “Tumhare Liye”, “”Gharonda” among others.
He also wrote lyrics for the 2005 “Taj Mahal- An eternal love story” and “Yaatra” in 2006, whose music was composed by Naushad and Khayyam respectively.
