प्यारेलाल सन्तोषी

Pyarelal Santoshi, known professionally as P. L. Santoshi, was born Pyarelal Shrivastav on 7 August 1916 in Jabalpur, Central Provinces and Berar. He began composing poetry and performing at kavi sammelans while still in school, and moved to Bombay in the mid-1930s to pursue a career as a writer and lyricist, making his debut with songs for Jaddan Bai's Moti Ka Haar (1937). A seven-year association with Ranjit Movietone followed, during which he wrote lyrics for 17 films, 14 of them scored by music director Gyan Dutt, before he moved to Bombay Talkies in 1941.

Santoshi went on to write lyrics for around 350 songs across roughly 100 films, becoming known for a fresh, conversational, and often playful style that helped popularize musical comedy in Hindi cinema; his long collaboration with composer C. Ramchandra produced some of his best-remembered work, including 'Aana Meri Jaan Meri Jaan Sunday Ke Sunday' from Shehnai (1947) and 'O Neend Na Mujhko Aaye' from Post Box 999 (1958). He also wrote lyrics for films such as Nirala, Gorakh Aya (for which he wrote dialogue as well), and Gul-E-Bakavali (1956).

Beyond lyric-writing, Santoshi worked as a director, dialogue writer, and occasional actor. He made his directorial debut with Hum Ek Hain (1946), which introduced actors Dev Anand and Rehman, followed by his most commercially successful film as director, Shehnai (1947); he also directed Subse Bada Rupaiya (1955) and, later, Barsaat Ki Raat (1960). His subsequent directorial work was less successful, and his final years were marked by financial difficulty, including a period writing for Tamil cinema and ghost-writing for Telugu dubbed films. He died on 7 September 1978 in Bombay. His son, Rajkumar Santoshi, is an acclaimed Hindi film director.