Anjaan, the well-known lyricist, refused to help his son when he wanted to follow in his foot-steps. The whole family was against the boy’s joining the risky world of films. Sameer, the son, however managed very well on his own. He was born Shitla Pandey and completed his Master’s Degree in Commerce from Banaras Hindu University before reverting to his first love – writing lyrics for films!

It is quite strange that although having somebody in the industry is sometimes a contributing factor to somebody’s success, it worked the other way round for Sameer. He had to go through his share of toil and hardship to achieve his position. Anjaan’s name helped him to get an audience with the music directors or directors, but beyond this it nearly proved to be his undoing. Some of the directors thought that he was just taking a chance at writing without being really serious. Others would be suspicious of his writing skills and ask him to write lyrics in front of them. At times some songs would meet their approval, but the credit would go to the more illustrious father. It was also from his father that he learnt that nothing succeeds like success in the film industry and once the ball is set in motion, there is no stopping it.

(courtesy source: http://www.hindilyrix.com/lyricists/lyricist-sameer.html)