Aalok Shrivastav is an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist.[1] His critically acclaimed works include Aameen (2007),[2] a poetry collection and Afreen (2012), a story collection, both published by Rajkamal Prakashan.[3] Aalok's works have won a number of accolades for his works, including the International Pushkin Award[4] and Dushyant Kumar Award by Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Akademi.[5]

Aalok Shrivastav
Aalok Shrivastav
Aalok Shrivastav
Born (1971-12-30) 30 December 1971 (age 52)
Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, India
OccupationPoet, Writer, Journalist
LanguageHindi
NationalityIndian
EducationMA (Hindi)
GenreGhazal, Poetry, Story
Years active1993–present
Notable worksAameen (2007), Aafreen (2012)
Notable awards
  • Dushyant Kumar Award by Sahitya Academy (MP) (2009)
  • International Pushkin Award (2011)
  • Sambhulal Sukhan Award by Urdu Academy (MP) (2018)

Early life

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He hails from Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh, India. He was born on 30 December 1971, in the Shajapur, in Madhya Pradesh. He holds an MA in Hindi.[1]

Career

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Writing

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He published his first collection of poetry, Aameen by Rajkamal Prakashan, in 2007. Aameen is a Ghazal collection explaining human values and human relationships. He won the Dushyant Kumar Award from Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Akademi for his debut poetry collection Ameen in 2009, followed by International Pushkin Award in 2011.[4] The fourth edition of Aalok's Aameen was released by Namvar Singh and Javed Akhtar at the New Delhi World Book Fair in February 2015.[2][6]

He published his second book, Aafreen, a story collection published by Rajkamal Prakashan in 2012. It was released by Chitra Mudgal and Uday Prakash in Johannesburg, South Africa in the World Hindi Conference.[7] It was well-received by the readers and critics.[3] Harish Naval writing for Navbharat Times, placed the book, Aafreen in the list of '13 Most Popular Books of 2013'.[8]

He has performed poetry in various countries, including United States, England, Russia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, South Africa and the UAE. His works have also been translated into various other languages, including Russian, Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Maithili languages.[1]

His literary works have been given voice by Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Aadesh Shrivastava, Rekha Bhardwaj, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Richa Sharma, Javed Ali, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shubha Mudgal and Amitabh Bachchan.[9][10][11]

He has written lyrics for the 2011 film, Patang, directed by Prashant Bhargava, followed by writing the lyrics for the 2014 documentary film, Can't Take This Shit Anymore and the thriller film Vodka Diaries (2018).[9][10][12] In 2020, he also wrote songs for A.R. Rahman's musical drama film, Atkan Chatkan.[13] He has written theme songs called Dhadak Dhadak Be Dhadak Dhadak for Agra–Lucknow Expressway and Na Jaam, Na Jhanjhat for Lucknow Metro. These songs were made for the Uttar Pradesh government and were directed by Kushal Srivastava.[14]

He has written the song Watan for Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti, which Javed Ali sung and released by Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in August 2019.[15][16] His poem, Mai Naye Bharat Ka Chehra Hun, which he wrote for Doordarshan, was recited by Amitabh Bachchan and was launched at the celebratory event of the 60th anniversary of Doordarshan in September 2019.[17]

His music album Eternal was sung and composed by ghazal singer Jaswinder Singh, won the AAMA Award for the Best Album Of the Year.[18] Aalok has also written the lyrics for Anoushka Shankar's album, Traveller (2012), released in the US and was nominated for Grammy Award.[19] In June 2015, he released his Ghazal album, Khwaabon Ki Kahaani, sung by Pankaj Udhas.[20] Some of his other notable music albums includes Eternal (2016) by Jaswinder Singh and Noor (2018)[21] by Sudeep Banerjee.[22]

Journalism

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Aalok worked with media organisations like Aaj Tak, India TV and Doordarshan for almost 15 years as a print and television journalist. He began freelancing for India Today and other newspapers in the 1990s. He started TV journalism with India TV in 2005. In 2007, he joined Aaj Tak and produced significant TV programs on religion, sports, politics. In July 2014, Srivastav joined DD National, a state-owned public TV channel, as National Channel Advisor in 2014.[23][24]

Bibliography

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As writer
  • Aameen (2007) (5 editions); Rajkamal Prakashan (Poetry collection) ISBN 978-8126714308
  • Aafreen (2012); Rajkamal Prakashan (Story collection) ISBN 978-8126723478
As editor

Filmography

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As lyricist
Year Film Singer(s) Song
2011 Patang : The Kite Shubha Mudgal Udaan and Sundar Sapna Toot Gaya
2014 Can't Take This Shit Anymore Women of Kushinagar Tatti
2018 Vodka Diaries Ustad Rashid Khan, Rekha Bhardwaj Sakhi Ri
2020 Atkan Chatkan Runa Sivamani Oh Maa Meri Ma

Albums

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Album Artist(s) Lyricist Label
Koshish Shubha Mudgal Aalok Shrivastav Underscore Records
Tarana-E-Percussion Shubha Mudgal Aalok Shrivastav Underscore Records
Inteha (2009) Jagjit Singh Aalok Shrivastav T-Series
Traveller (2011) Anoushka Shankar Aalok Shrivastav Deutsche Grammophon
Aakhir Kyon Shubha Mudgal Aalok Shrivastav Underscore Records
Voice Forever (2013) Jagjit Singh Aalok Shrivastav T-Series
Khwaabon ki Kahaani (2015) Pankaj Udhas Aalok Shrivastav Hungama
Ehsaas Ki Khushboo (2015) Pankaj Udhas Aalok Shrivastav Times Music
Eternal (2016) Jaswinder Singh Aalok Shrivastav ArtistAloud
Noor (2018) Sudeep Banerji Aalok Shrivastav ArtistAloud

Awards and recognition

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "अमर उजाला काव्य की नई श्रृंखला 'कवि, किस्सा और कविता' में आलोक श्रीवास्तव ने सुनाईं अपनी ग़ज़लें" (in Hindi). Amar Ujala. 12 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b "'आमीन' का चौथा संस्करण रिलीज, नामवर सिंह और जावेद अख्तर ने किया लोकार्पण" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak. 23 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b Ansari, Sayeed (25 March 2014). "इंसानी रिश्तों की कहानियां हैं आलोक श्रीवास्तव के कहानी संग्रह 'आफरीन' में" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak.
  4. ^ a b c "आलोक को मिला पुश्किन सम्मान" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak. 1 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b "नामवर-जावेद अख्तर ने लोकार्पित की 'आमीन'" (in Hindi). News 18. 24 February 2015.
  6. ^ "आमीन ! हिंदी !" (in Hindi). News18. 3 January 2011.
  7. ^ "आलोक श्रीवास्तव की पुस्तक आफरीन का विमोचन, फ़जल इमाम को सम्मान" (in Hindi). Samachar4media. 27 September 2012.
  8. ^ Naval, Dr. Harish (23 December 2013). "2013 के सबसे चर्चित किताबें" (in Hindi). Navbharat Times.
  9. ^ a b "Shakhsiyat with Aalok Shrivastav". Sansad TV. 14 December 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Aalok Shrivastav's poetry in thriller film". India Today. 18 June 2016.
  11. ^ Singh, Anand (5 August 2012). "मशरूफ़ हम बहुत हैं मगर...". The Sunday Indian: 58, 59.
  12. ^ Anand, Abhishek (30 January 2017). "'वोदका डायरीज' में होंगी आलोक श्रीवास्तव की कविताएं" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak.
  13. ^ "Oh Maa Meri Maa - Atkan Chatkan". Zee Music Company. 10 September 2020.
  14. ^ Gite, Manish (7 March 2017). "UP की मेट्रो बेधड़क चलाई, अब वोदका डायरी के पन्ने खोलेंगे आलोक" (in Hindi). Patrika.com.
  15. ^ "क्या आपने सुना है देशप्रेम से भरा पत्रकार आलोक श्रीवास्तव व जावेद अली का ये गीत" (in Hindi). Samachar4media. 14 August 2019.
  16. ^ "केंद्रीय मंत्री श्री प्रकाश जावडेकर ने दूरदर्शन द्वारा निर्मित देशभक्ति गीत "वतन" देश को समर्पित किया" (in Hindi). Press Information Bureau. 13 August 2019.
  17. ^ Mishra, Ratnesh (16 September 2019). "अमिताभ बच्चन का स्वर और आलोक श्रीवास्तव की कविता: दूरदर्शन के 60 साल" (in Hindi). Amar Ujala.
  18. ^ Pandey, Rajeev Dutt (8 October 2018). "मेरा फ़िल्मी लेखन भी महान शायरों को श्रद्धांजलि है: आलोक श्रीवास्तव" (in Hindi). Hindustan.
  19. ^ "आलोक श्रीवास्‍तव के गीत वाला अनुष्का शंकर का 'ट्रैवलर' ग्रैमी में नॉमिनेट" (in Hindi). Bhadas4media.com. 17 December 2012.
  20. ^ "बहुत दिनों बाद छाई ग़ज़ल की खुशबू- पंकज उधास का नया म्यूजिकल एलबम 'ख्वाबों की कहानी' रिलीज" (in Hindi). Mayapuri. 28 June 2015.
  21. ^ "Eternal – Jaswinder Singh featuring Aalok Shrivastav". Webdunia. 23 August 2016.
  22. ^ "जब मॉडल बनीं ऋचा अनिरुद्ध, लाए आलोक श्रीवास्तव 'नूर' का खजाना" (in Hindi). Samachar4media. 8 August 2018.
  23. ^ "Aalok Srivastav joins DD National as National Channel Advisor". Exchange4media. 2 July 2014.
  24. ^ Sen, Sanjukta (2 July 2014). "DD National appoints Aalok Srivastav as channel advisor". Bollywood Helpline.
  25. ^ "मेरा फन समझ सकेगा, जरा देर से जमाना..." Dainik Bhaskar. 20 September 2015.
  26. ^ "हेमंत फाउंडेशन का "विजय वर्मा कथा सम्मान" एवं "हेमंत स्मृति कविता सम्मान"" (in Hindi). Sahityakunj. 2 July 2009. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012.
  27. ^ "आज तक के आलोक श्रीवास्तव को अमेरिका में मिला अंतर्राष्ट्रीय हिंदी सम्मान" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak. 13 April 2014.
  28. ^ Naveen, P (7 November 2015). "Aalok Shrivastav, gazal writer from Madhya Pradesh honoured in London". The Times of India.
  29. ^ "'रिश्तों को बचा रही है भारत की नई गजल: ब्रिटिश सांसद" (in Hindi). London: Aaj Tak. 7 November 2015.
  30. ^ Kumar, Manoj (20 March 2015). "कवि, लेखक और टीवी पत्रकार आलोक श्रीवास्तव 'राष्ट्रीय दुष्यंत कुमार अलंकरण' हेतु चयनित" (in Hindi). Jagran Josh. Dainik Jagaran.
  31. ^ "आलोक श्रीवास्तव को दुष्यन्त कुमार अलंकरण" (in Hindi). Aaj Tak. 18 March 2015.
  32. ^ "आलोक को मप्र की उर्दू अकादमी करेगी सम्मानित" (in Hindi). Dainik Bhaskar. 10 May 2017.
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