Maya Govind hails from Lucknow and possesses a graduate degree in Education. She worked as a teacher (Hindi), a dancer, a stage artist and did shows for All India Radio. She was an active member of the theater group, Darpan, but have to quit dancing due to domestic reasons. Later, she began participating in Kavi sammelans and mushairas and did a degree with Bhatkande Music University.

Atma-Ram discovers Maya Govind

Her skill were acknowledged by producer-director Atma-Ram at one of the sammelans and called her over to Mumbai to write for his movie ‘Aarop’ released in 1974. The movie had some hit numbers like ‘Naino mein darpan hai’ and ‘Jab se tumne bansi bajaai re’ composed by Dr Bhupen Hazarika, who made his Hindi debut with the film. Ramanand Sagar took note of her writing abilities and signed her for his film ‘Jalte Badan’, based on drug trafficking. The lyrics coupled by abilities of Laxmikant Pyarelal gave some hit numbers like ‘Gaon gaon ghoome, shaher shaher chhaana’ and ‘Hum woh hai jo apne ghar ko jalaakar tamasha dekhte hain’.

Maya kept writing for Hindi films but somehow was not able to make a mark with the masses for the following 15 years. Projects like Atma-Ram’s Qaid (‘Yeh to Ram jaane’), ‘Aafat’, ‘Khanjar’, ‘Pyar Ka Rahi’, ‘Jeet Hamari’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's ‘Rang Birangi’ and ‘Jhoothi’, ‘Mere Baad’, Vijay Bhatt's ‘Heera Aur Patthar’, ‘Pighalta Aasmaan’, ‘Taqdeer’, ‘Main Aur Mera Haathi’, ‘Galiyon Kaa Baadshah’, ‘Khush Naseeb’, ‘Yeh Rishta Na Tootey’, ‘Tohfa Muhabbat Ka’, Deepak Bahry's 'Humse Hai Zamana’ were average at the box-office. She also wrote for TV serials.

‘Gutur-Gutur’ from the movie Dalaal made her comeback on the cover magazines, after which she didn’t have to struggle much with famous banners. The 90’s saw some foot-tapping numbers from ‘Mein Khiladi Tu Anari’, ‘Najaayaz’ (‘Darwaza khula chhod aayi’), ‘Takkar’ (Ankhon mein base ho tum) topped the charts. Her other films include ‘Naaraz’, ‘Janta Ki Adalat’, ‘Maharaja’, ‘Premyog’, ‘Jai Hindi’, ‘Policewala Gunda’, ‘Hamesha’, ‘Aar Ya Paar’, ‘Maidan-E-Jung’ and ‘Rock Dancer’. She got highly appreciated for her title song for Ramesh Sippy’s Kismet, ‘Kismet ka to yehi fasaana hai'.

Maya Govind defends her naughtiness

Maya Govind’s earlier lyrics have been in line with the folk music of Northern India. But her new comeback saw her being a little controversy with her songs. The controversy was heightened with the kind of picturization of the songs. Songs like ‘Darwaza khulla chhod aayi’ (Najaayaz), and Dalaal’s, ‘Chad gaya uppar re’ and ‘Aaja raja aaja dukan chalu hai’ were hits but with controversy. There were rallies outside her residence for her work in ‘Rock Dancer’, ‘Lounda Badnaam hua’. But she somehow convinced the activist of the Woman Liberalization with her reasons of mastery of Hindi language, quoting writers like Munshi Premchand using those said words in his novels. She has always been an ardent Hindi poetess and never deterred under any pressures."