Dev Kohli, who wrote 'Kabutar Jaa, Jaa, Jaa' dies at 80, funeral today

Mumbai, Aug 26:  Veteran Bollywood lyricist Dev Kohli, who penned memorable superhit songs like ‘Kabootar Jaa, Jaa, Jaa’, ‘Ye Kaali Kaali Aankhen’, ‘Dil Deewana, Bin Sajna Ke Maane Na’ and ‘Chalti Hai Kay Nau Se Bara’, passed away on Saturday morning after a prolonged illness, industry sources said.

He was 80 and breathed his last owing to age-related ailments at his Andheri home. His funeral shall be performed at 6 p.m. this evening at the Oshiwara Crematorium.

Kohli’s body shall be kept for people and his fans to pay their last respects at his home in Lokhandwala Complex this afternoon till 2 pm.

Born on November 2, 1942 in a Sikh family of Rawalpindi (now Pakistan), his family settled in Dehradun.

He studied at the Shri Guru Nanak Dev Guru Maharaja College there and when he was 22, came to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1964, searching for employment in the entertainment world.

After an initial struggle of five years, he got his first break – writing a song for the film 'Gunda' (1969) – ‘Khushi Se Jaan Le Lo Ji’, which was composed by music director G. S. Kohli, which barely made musical ripples.

But it was only two years later that he was catapulted to fame by penning songs for the musical film 'Laal Pathhar' (1971) in which Kohli’s number ‘Geet Gaata Hoon Main’ became a huge rage, composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and rendered by Kishore Kumar.

Besides 'Laal Pathhar', he wrote many superhit songs for films like 'Maine Pyar Kiya' (1990), 'Aansoo Bane Angare' (1993), 'Baazigar' (1994), 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' (1995), 'Dahek' (1999), 'Bas Itnasa Khwaab Hai' (2001), 'Woh,' & 'Musafir' (2004), 'Shootout At Lokhandwala' (2007), 'Yaariya' (2008), 'Judwaa 2' (2018), among others.

Over the years, Kohli worked with a host of music directors starting like the late Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R. D. Burman, Anu Malik, Raam-Laxman, Anand Raaj Anand, Anand-Milind, Vishal-Shekhar, Uttam Singh, and many more, scoring lyrics for over 100 films in the past nearly six decades.

Kohli penned lyrics which thrilled generations of music lovers from the black-and-white to the colour films era.

Top Bollywood personalities including actors, lyricists and music directors took to the social media and condoled the demise of Kohli.