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 Post subject: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:19 pm 
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Music Lover

Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
Birthplace: Azamgarh, U.P.
Profession: Poet, Bollywood Film song Lyricists
Family: Wife - Shaukat Azmi, stage artist, writer; Daughter - Shabana Azmi, Bollywood actress, Social worker, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

Born to a family of landlords in Majwan in the district of Azamgarh, UP, Kaifi Azmi was fortunate in having a liberal and modern father. His father took up a job as a tahsildar in various small towns in Uttar Pradesh. Although his father wanted Kaifi to have a modern "English" education, pressure from relatives who wanted him to be a theologian saw him admitted to the Sultan-ul-Madris seminary in Lucknow. He soon ran into trouble with the authorities there, organizing a union and launching a strike, which ran one-and-a-half years. Once the strike was called off, Kaifi Azmi was expelled and there ended his relatives' ambitions. Denied the kind of education he and his father wanted, Kaifi Azmi took courses at Lucknow and Allahabad universities that helped him acquire a command over Urdu, Arabic and Persian.

Kaifi Azmi - The revolt within


Kaifi, like most of the Urdu poets, began as a ghazal writer cramming his poetry with the oft-repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with cliched similes and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poems he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Such poetry serves a social purpose and in this respect Kaifi can be called a successful Progressive poet. The choice of his themes does not leave much scope for him to make rich his poetic creations aesthetically. In many of his poems his phonation is a bit louder, the style is direct and closer to rhetoric. Yet, Kaifi's poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society are the hallmarks of his poems. Kaifi's poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated.

Azmi Saab's stint in film includes working as lyricist, writer and almost an actor! His early work as storywriter was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like 'Yahudi ki Beti' (1956), 'Parvin' (1957), 'Miss Punjab Mail' (1958) and 'Id ka Chand' (1958). But perhaps his greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's 'Heer Ranjha' (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the great feats in Hindi Film writing. Kaifi Azmi Saab also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's 'Garam Hawa' (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. The film, chronicles the plight of the minority Muslims in North India and is set in Agra after the first major partition exodus. Balraj Sahni played to perfection the central role of an elderly Muslim shoe manufacturer who must decide whether to continue living in India or to migrate to the newly formed state of Pakistan. 'Garam Hawa' remains today one of the most poignant films ever to be made on India's partition. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's 'Manthan' (1976) and Sathyu's 'Kanneshwara Rama' (1977).

Kaifi Azmi - Film career


As a lyrics writer though he wrote for numerous films, he would always be remembered for Guru Dutt's 'Kaagaz ke Phool' (1959) and Chetan Anand's 'Haqeeqat' (1964), India's greatest ever war film. In the former who can forget 'Bichde Sabi Baari Baari' or 'Waqt ne Kiya Kya Haseen Situm' and 'Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga' or 'Kar Chale Hum Fida Jaan-o-Tan Saathiyon' in the latter. The last mentioned patriotic song causes goose p***les even when heard today. Some other notable films for which he wrote the lyrics include 'Uski Kahani' (1966), 'Bawarchi' (1972), 'Pakeezah' (1972), 'Hanste Zakhm' (1973) and 'Razia Sultan' (1983). He also played a memorable old man in 'Naseem' (1995),a touching film centered around the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. The film is set in June-December 1992, the days preceding the demolition of the Masjid on December 6, 1992 by Hindutva fanatics. Naseem (Mayuri Kango) is a schoolgirl belonging to a middle class Mumbai based Muslim family. She enjoys a warm relationship with her aged ailing grandfather (Azmi Saab). With increasing horror the family watches on their TV the news of the build up at Ayodhya while the grandfather regales her with stories of life in pre-independence Agra. The grandfather dies on December 6 coinciding with the news of the destruction of the mosque. Azmi Saab's brilliant performance provides not just a reminder but a literal embodiment of the cultural traditions at stake those tragic days. It was a performance his daughter, multiple National Award winning actress Shabana Azmi, was proud of.

Kaifi Azmi passed away in Mumbai on May 10, 2002 following cardiac and respiratory infection. Time waits for none. This time it was Kaifi Azmi, the poet extraordinaire, who had to move on. Death came after a prolonged illness of 45 days.

The Best of Kaifi Azmi



Baharon Mera Jiwan Sanwaaro Aakhri Khat
Ye Nayan Dare Dare Kohraa
Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam Kaagaz ke Phool
Chalte Chalte Yun Hi Koi Mil Gaya Tha Pakeezah
Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho Arth
Dhire Dhire Machal Ai Dil Beqarar Anupama
Chalo Dildaar Chalo Pakeezah
Aane Waala Kal Ek Sapna Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi
Ye Duniya Ye Mehfil Heer Ranjha
Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari Kaagaz ke Phool
Mana Ho Tum Toote Khilone


Awards

Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award Aawara Sajdey
Soviet Land Nehru Award Aawara Sajdey
Sahitya Academe Award Aawara Sajdey
Maharashtra State Urdu Academy's Special Award Urdu literature
Lotus Award Afro-Asian Writers' Committee



Credit - hindilyrics.com


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:21 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
Kaifi Azmi, 1925-2002


Image

photo credit: Brij Mahajan



Kaifi Azmi, the renowned Urdu poet and lyricist, was born in 1925 in Mijwan, Azamgarh District, Uttar Pradesh. He died in Mumbai on May 10, 2002, fifteen months after recording for the Library of Congress in New Delhi. At the time of his death he was one of the last remaining representatives of the Progressive Writers Association, a writers' association that wielded unparalleled influence during India's freedom struggle.His poetry remains solidly rooted in the tradition of Urdu poetry with its ardent longing for intense emotions and passionate espousal of radical causes. His poems celebrate love, compassion and human equality. The lyrical beauty and powerful expression of his film songs have captivated millions. Despite the political and economic shifts in India, he retained his idealism and remained to the end optimistic of a socialist future for India. This optimism was reflected in poetry replete with dreams of a socialist egalitarian society in which the voice of another fellow human being will be felt like melodious music. "I was born in enslaved India, have lived in independent secular India, and God willing, I will die in socialist India." (The Indian Express, September 9, 1998)

Kaifi Azmi received many awards and accolades including the Soviet Land Nehru Award and Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2000, he was conferred the first Millennium Award by the Delhi Government and Urdu Academy. He was the recipient of "Padma Shri" one of the Indian Government's highest civilian awards. The Maharashtra government conferred the Dnyaneshwar award on him in 1998.

The Library of Congress owns nine of his works.


Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:22 pm 
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Music Lover

Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
aavaaraa sajde


ik yahii soz-e-nihaa.N kul meraa sarmaayaa hai
dosto mai.n kise ye soz-e-nihaa.N nazr karuu.N
ko_ii qaatil sar-e-maqtal nazar aataa hii nahii.n
kis ko dil nazr karuu.N aur kise jaa.N nazr karuu.N?

tum bhii mahaboob mere tum bhii ho dil_daar mere
aashnaa mujh se magar tum bhii nahii.n tum bhii nahii.n
Khatm hai tum pe masiihaa_nafasii chaaraagarii
meharam-e-dard-e-jigar tum bhii nahii.n tum bhii nahii.n

apanii laash aap uThaanaa ko_ii aasaan nahii.n
dast-o-baazuu mere naakaaraa hue jaate hai.n
jin se har daur me.n chamakii hai tumhaarii dahaliiz
aaj sajde vohii aavaaraa hue jaate hai.N

duur manzil thii magar aisii bhii kuchh duur na thii
leke phiratii rahii raste hii me.n vahashat mujh ko
ek zaKhm aisaa na khaayaa ke bahaar aa jaatii
daar tak leke gayaa shauq-e-shahaadat mujh ko

raah me.n TuuT gaye paa.Nv to maaluum huaa
juz mere aur meraa rah_numaa ko_ii nahii.n
ek ke baad Khudaa ek chalaa aataa thaa
kah diyaa aql ne tang aake 'Khudaa ko_ii nahii.n'


Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:22 pm 
Offline
Music Lover

Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
andeshe


ruuh bechain hai ik dil kii aziiyat kyaa hai
dil hii sholaa hai to ye soz-e-mohabbat kyaa hai
vo mujhe bhuul ga_ii iskii shikaayat kyaa hai
ranj to ye hai ke ro-roke bhulaayaa hogaa

vo kahaa.N aur kahaa.N kaahif-e-Gam sozish-e-jaa.N
us kii rangiin nazar aur nuquush-e-hirmaa.N
us kaa ehsaas-e-latiif aur shikast-e-armaa.N
taanaazan ek zamaanaa nazar aayaa hogaa

jhuk ga_ii hogii javaa.N-saal umango.n kii jabii.n
miT ga_ii hogii lalak Duub gayaa hogaa yaqii.n
chhaa gayaa hogaa dhuaa.N ghuum ga_ii hogii zamii.n
apane pahale hii gharonde ko jo Dhaayaa hogaa

dil ne aise bhii kuchh afsaane sunaaye ho.Nge
ashk aa.Nkho.n ne piye aur na bahaaye ho.Nge
band kamare me.n jo Khat mere jalaaye ho.Nge
ek-ik harf jabii.n par ubhar aayaa hogaa

us ne ghabaraake nazar laakh bachaa_ii hogii
miTake ik naqsh ne sau shaql dikhaa_ii hogii
mez se jab merii tasviir haTaa_ii hogii
har taraf mujh ko ta.Daptaa huaa paayaa hogaa

bemahal chhe.D pe jazbaat ubal aaye ho.Nge
Gam pashemaan tabassum me.n Dhal aaye ho.Nge
naam par mere jab aa.Nsuu nikal aaye ho.Nge
sar na kaa.Ndhe se sahalii ke uThaayaa hogaa

zulf zid kar ke kisii ne jo banaa_ii hogii
ruuThw jalvo.N pe Khizaa.N aur bhii chhaa_ii hogii
barq ashvo.N ne ka_ii din na giraa_ii hogii
rang chehare pe ka_ii roz na aayaa hogaa

hoke majabuur mujhe us ne bhulaayaa hogaa
zahar chup kar ke davaa jaan ke Khaayaa hogaa


Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:23 pm 
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Music Lover

Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
Veteran lyricist, poet and writer Kaifi Azmi passed away in Mumbai on May 10, 2002 following cardiac and respiratory infection.

Uncertain about his date of birth Azmi Saab however was certain that he was born in enslaved India, grew old in Independent India and that he would die in Socialist India. He was born as Akhtar Husain Rizvi, in a small hamlet, Majwan, in the district of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh in a family of landlords. His father Syed Fateh Husain Rizvi, though was a landlord, but took up employment first in a small native state, Balharah, as a tahsildar and later on other areas of Uttar Pradesh. He decided to send his sons to schools imparting modern education, including English, against the stiff opposition of his relatives. However, Azmi Saab could not get this opportunity because his elders wanted him to be a theologian. He was admitted in Sultan-ul-Madaris, a reputed seminary in Lucknow. However his nonconformist nature created many problems for the authorities of the seminary. He formed a Students' Union and asked all the students to go on strike for getting their demands fulfilled. The strike continued for one and half year. Though the strike was called off, he was expelled from the seminary. This was the end of his elders' dream to train him to be a theologian. Azmi Saab could not seek modern education but he passed various examinations of Lucknow and Allahabad Universities that helped him acquire command over Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages.

During this period the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very much impressed by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended all possible cooperation and encouragement to him. Consequently, Azmi Saab began to win great acclaim as a poet. His initiation into poetry was most interesting. At the age of eleven he, somehow, managed to get himself invited to a Mushaira and over there recited a ghazal, rather a couplet of the ghazal, which was very much appreciated by the President of the Mushaira, Mani Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thought that he recited his elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi Saab accepted the challenge and within no time completed a ghazal. That particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India sung by none other than the legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar and went thus: Itna to Zindagi Mein Kisiki Khalal Pade Hasne se ho Sukoon Na Rone se Kal Pade. He however abandoned his studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India agitations of 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full time Marxist when he accepted membership of the Communist Party in 1943. He was asked to shift base to Mumbai and work among the workers and started party work with lot of zeal and enthusiasm and at the same time would attend Mushairas in different parts of India. In 1947, he reached Hyderabad to participate in a Mushaira. There he met with Shaukat, fell in love with her and both got married. Shaukat Kaifi, later on, became a well known actress of theatre and film.

Like most of the Urdu poets, Azmi Saab began as a ghazal writer cramming his poetry with the oft-repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichs and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poems he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society are the hallmarks of his poems. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated. He published three anthologies of poetry Aakhir-e-Shab, Jhankar and Awaara Sajde. Recently Penguin came out with a translation of his poems in English - Selected Poems Kaifi Azmi.

Azmi Saab was also an active member of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and in later years its president. His role in theatre was very important — he ensured that even after the communist movement started dying, its cultural component was kept alive. Once or twice he got young writers to produce plays and perform them at the Bhulabhai Desai Hall to collect funds for the Communist Party.

Azmi Saab's stint in film includes working as lyricist, writer and yes even actor! His early work as story writer was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like Yahudi ki Beti (1956), Parvin (1957), Miss Punjab Mail (1958) and Id ka Chand (1958). But perhaps his greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Ranjha (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the great feats in Hindi Film writing. Azmi Saab also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. The film, chronicles the plight of the minority Muslims in North India and is set in Agra after the first major partition exodus. Balraj Sahni played to perfection the central role of an elderly Muslim shoe manufacturer who must decide whether to continue living in India or to migrate to the newly formed state of Pakistan. Garam Hawa remains today one of the most poignant films ever to be made on India's partition. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) and Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama (1977). As a lyrics writer though he wrote for numerous films, he would always be remembered for Guru Dutt'sKaagaz ke Phool (1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest ever war film. In the former who can forget Dekhi Zamaane ki Yaari Bichde Sabi Baari Baari or Waqt ne Kiya Kya Haseen Situm and Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga or Kar Chale Hum Fida Jaan-o-Tan Saathiyon in the latter. The last mentioned patriotic song causes goose p***les even when heard today. Some other notable films for which he wrote the lyrics include Uski Kahani (1966), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973) and Razia Sultan (1983). He also played a memorable old man in Naseem (1995),a touching film centered around the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. The film is set in June-December 1992, the days preceding the demolition of the Masjid on December 6, 1992 by Hindutva fanatics. Naseem (Mayuri Kango) is a schoolgirl belonging to a middle class Mumbai based Muslim family. She enjoys a warm relationship with her aged ailing grandfather (Azmi Saab). With increasing horror the family watches on their TV the news of the build up at Ayodhya while the grandfather regales her with stories of life in pre-independence Agra. The grandfather dies on December 6 coinciding with the news of the destruction of the mosque. Azmi Saab's brilliant performance provides not just a reminder but a literal embodiment of the cultural traditions at stake those tragic days. It was a performance his daughter, multiple National Award winning actress Shabana Azmi, was proud of.

Kaifi Saab has won various awards and he has been honoured by various national and international institutions. These include the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award, the Soviet Land Nehru Award and the Sahitya Academy Award for his collection, Awaara Sajde, the Maharashtra State Urdu Academy's Special Award for his contribution to Urdu literature and the Afro-Asian Writers' Committee's Lotus Award. He also won the National Award and Filmfare Award for the screenplay and dialogue of Garam Hawa. Azmi Saab was also the subject of a documentary film Kaifi Azmi (1979) made by Raman Kumar. His son Baba Azmi is a reputed cinematographer while son-in-law Javed Akhtar is a well known writer, lyricist and poet and daughter-in-law Tanvi, a fine actress in her own right.

Upperstall.com


Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:29 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
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Kaifi Azmi


A moment


Life is the name given to a few moments
and from those perhaps that one moment
in which two eloquent eyes
rise above the cup of tea
and sink straight into the heart.
Do not utter a word today
I, too, shall be silent
just sit here by my side
with this gift of pain
this warmth of feelings
who knows, this very moment
somewhere on a faraway mountain-top
the snow may actually start melting


Life


Darkness seems to be seeping into
every pore of mine
The spark in the eye will vanish
I will feel no more, nor will I think
Centuries have scorched this body of mine
Before my daughter's soft hands give
A cool caress to my hot face
Before my son's strong body lends strength
To this weak and crippled frame
Before my wife's lips drink
The heat of my lips
The body aflame for long will turn to ashes
And then the ashes will scatter themselves


Toys


The boat here is made of sand, froth goes into making the boatman
The train is fashioned out of wood, the elephant mother of pearl
These heavy machines those light ones are made of plastic
The wheels are moulded from wax, they can neither stop nor move
Ashes make up this earth here and dust makes up the fields
Clothes are stitched of steam and houses built with smoke
Magic goes into making the canal, prayers make up the bridge
Such are the toys that make music of those few plans



Taqseem hua mulk to dil ho gae tukre
Har seenay mein toofan wahan bhi thha yahan bhi
Har ghar mein chita jalti thee lahratey thhe sholay
Har shahr men shamshan wahan bhi thha yahan bhi
Geeta ki koi sunta na Quran ki sunta
Hairan thha iman wahan bhi thha yahan bhi

The land is divided, lives are shattered
Storms rage in every heart; it's the same here and there
Funeral pyres in every home; the flames mount higher
Every city is deserted; it's the same here and there
No one heeds the Gita, no one heeds the Koran
Faith has lost all meaning here or there

At the end, it serves to heal it, by pointing out that the real struggle extends to and thereby unites both countries.

Jo door se toofan ka karte hain nazarah
Un ke liye toofan wahan bhi hai yahan bhi
Dharay main jo mil jao, ban jaoge dhara
yeh waqt ka elan wahan bhi hai yahan bhi

Those who view the storm from afar
See no difference between here and there
To join in and become a part of it
this is the call of the times, here and there



Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:31 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
Image

Kaifi Azmi by GOPI GAJWANI



Credit - Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Kaifi Azmi Lyricist
New postPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:33 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:55 am
Posts: 282
Image

Image


Kaifi Azmi once said in an interview "I, was born in ghulaam Hindustaan, am living in an Aazad Hindustaan and will die in a socialist Hindustaan." Kaifi Sahab is one of the greatest lyricist of the Hindi cinema.

He was born as Akhtar Hussain Rizvi, in a small town, Mejwaan, in the district of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh in a family of landlords. His father Syed Fateh Husain Rizvi, though was a landlord, but took up employment first in a small native state, Balharah, as a tahsildar and later on other areas of Uttar Pradesh. He decided to send his sons to schools imparting modern education, including English, against the stiff opposition of his relatives. However, Azmi Saab could not get this opportunity because his elders wanted him to be a theologian. He was admitted in Sultan-ul-Madaris, a reputed seminary in Lucknow. However his nonconformist nature created many problems for the authorities of the seminary. He formed a Students' Union and asked all the students to go on strike for getting their demands fulfilled. The strike continued for one and half year. Though the strike was called off, he was expelled from the seminary. This was the end of his elders' dream to train him to be a theologian. Azmi Saab could not seek modern education but he passed various examinations of Lucknow and Allahabad Universities that helped him acquire command over Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages.

During this period the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very much impressed by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended all possible cooperation and encouragement to him. Consequently, Azmi Saab began to win great acclaim as a poet. His initiation into poetry was most interesting. At the age of eleven he, somehow, managed to get himself invited to a Mushaira and over there recited a ghazal, rather a couplet of the ghazal, which was very much appreciated by the President of the Mushaira, Mani Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thought that he recited his elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi Saab accepted the challenge and within no time completed a ghazal. That particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India sung by none other than the legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar and went thus: 'Itna to Zindagi Mein Kisiki Khalal Pade Hasne Se Ho Sukoon Na Rone Se Kal Pade..'. He however abandoned his studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India agitations of 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full time Marxist when he accepted membership of the Communist Party in 1943. At the age on 19 he joined the Communist Party and started activities in the textile mill areas of Kanpur. As a full time active worker, he left his life of comfort though he was a son of a Zamindaar. He was asked to shift base to Mumbai and work among the workers and started party work with lot of zeal and enthusiasm and at the same time would attend Mushairas in different parts of India. In 1947, he reached Hyderabad to participate in a Mushaira. There he met with Shaukat, fell in love with her and both got married. Shaukat Kaifi, later on, became a well known actress of theatre and film.

Like most of the Urdu poets, Azmi Saab began as a ghazal writer cramming his poetry with the oft-repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichs and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poems he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society are the hallmarks of his poems. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated. He published three anthologies of poetry Aakhir-e-Shab, Jhankar and Awaara Sajde.

Azmi Saab's stint in film includes working as lyricist, writer and yes even actor! His early work as story writer was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like Yahudi ki Beti (1956), Parvin (1957), Miss Punjab Mail (1958) and Idd ka Chand (1958). But perhaps his greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Ranjha (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the great feats in Hindi Film writing. Azmi Saab also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) and Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama (1977). As a lyrics writer though he wrote for numerous films, he would always be remembered for Guru Dutt's Kaagaz ke Phool (1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest ever war film. Some other notable films for which he wrote the lyrics include Uski Kahani (1966), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973) and Razia Sultan (1983). He also played a memorable old man in Naseem (1995),a touching film centered around the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya


Credit - Bob


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