Legendary Odia Lyricist Gurukrushna Goswami No More

Cuttack: Eminent Odia lyricist Gurukrushna Goswami passed away at his residence here on Sunday. He was 84. He is survived by wife Aarati Goswami and two sons. Singer Antara Chakraborty is Goswami’s niece.

Born in 1934 near Baripada to Gokulachandra Goswami and Sraddhabati, Goswami started his journey of writing songs with the film ‘Maa’, released in 1958. There was no looking back since then and he went on to enrich Odia films for over four decades by penning around 1600 folk, devotional and modern songs. He is the celebrated lyricist of over 30 Odia movies.

The popular Odia song ‘Bedana Sagara Teere…’ sung by Pranab Patnaik remained one of Goswami’s all-time classics. His songs ‘Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule Aji…’rendered by melody queen Lata Mangeskar for the film ‘Suryamukhi’ and ‘Tumaku Ta Paruni Mu Bhuli…’ sung by Mohammed Rafi for ‘Arundhati’ were highly acclaimed.

All the songs of ‘Gapa Helebi Sata’, released in 1976, penned by Goswami be it the romantic track ‘Ee Banara Chhai…’ or ‘Mu Je Janena Kahabata…’ and ‘Jaya Jadunandana’ are very close to the heart of Odia music lovers. He has also written songs with a light mood like ‘Phuleirani Sajaphula…’, ‘Jaa Re Manadoli Udija…’.

With music composer Shantanu Mohapatra and singer Pranab Patnaik, Goswami formed an enviable trio that gifted many timeless songs to the Odia cine industry.

Apart from songs, Goswami also wrote the story for ‘Arundhati’ and dialogues for ‘Suryamukhi’. For the film ‘Dasyu Ratnakar’, released in 1961, he not only penned the songs but also helped in composing the music. He won several prestigious awards, including the Best Lyricist Award (1996), Bhaktakabi Salbeg Award (2000) and Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2000). His last film was ‘Ranabhumi’ released in 1994.

A pall of gloom descended on the Odia cine industry as the news of Goswami’s demise trickled in. Film personalities and other dignitaries reached his place to pay him tribute.