For music lovers, legendary lyricist Anand Bakshi's songs have been the soundtrack to love, heartbreak and hope. But for his son, Rakesh Bakshi, those lyrics became deeply personal during one of the most difficult phases of his life. During The Art and Poetry Day, a tribute to Anand Bakshi, that was held at Subhash Ghai’s acting institute, Rakesh recalled how his father used his own words to help him heal after a painful divorce.

"My father had written around 3,000 romantic songs, but he was not a romantic," Rakesh says with a smile. Whenever people asked Anand Bakshi if he was a romantic person, his response was always the same: "Meri zindagi mein bilkul romance nahi hai. Agar hota toh main shayad aise gaane likh nahi pata. What you don't have is what you express."

Among all his father's compositions, Rakesh says Bade Achhe Lagte Hain remains his personal favourite.

Rakesh's relationship with his father's lyrics took on a new meaning after his divorce. "I was devastated," he recalls. "For nearly two months, I kept listening to Daddy's song, ‘Mujhe teri mohabbat ka sahara mil gaya hota, agar toofan nahi aate, kinara mil gaya hota. I would play it 15 to 20 times every day and just weep."

Watching his son sink deeper into grief, Anand Bakshi decided it was time to pull him back to reality. "He came to me and said, 'Beta, I know you've been through a separation and pain. Tumko yaad hai maine ek gana likha tha?' Then he reminded me of one of his own verses: Hum tum kitne paas hain, kitne duur hain chaand sitaare... Sach poochho toh maan ko jhoothe lagte hain yeh saare."

Confused, Rakesh asked his father what the lines really meant. "He told me, 'Beta, tumko jo chhod ke chali gayi hai, woh uss suraj-chaand ki tarah hai. It belongs in the sky—don't chase it. What is real is what is around you: this earth, these rivers, the rain, your mother, your brother, your sisters, your childhood friends and your work. You've turned away from all of them. Always remember this antara.'" 

For Rakesh, that conversation transformed the way he looked at loss. The lyricist who gave Indian cinema some of its most enduring songs on love had, in his quiet way, also written a philosophy for living—one that helped his own son find his way back after heartbreak.