Sahir Ludhianvi
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Sahir Ludhianvi (March 8, 1921 – October 25, 1980) was a popular Urdu poet and Hindi lyricist and songwriter. Sahir Ludhianvi is his pseudonym.
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[edit] Early life
Sahir Ludhianvi was born into the wealthy family of a Muslim zamindaar as Abdul Hayee on March 8, 1921 in Ludhiana, Punjab. Sahir's parents had a very loose and estranged relationship. In 1934, when he was thirteen years old, his father married for the second time. At that time, his mother decided to take the bold step of leaving her husband, forfeiting all claims to the financial assets. Sahir's father then sued his mother for child custody but lost. He threatened to make sure Sahir did not live with his mother very long, even if that meant taking the child's life.[citation needed] Sahir's mother then found friends who kept a close watch on him and didn't let him out of sight. Fear and financial deprivation surrounded the formative years of this young man. His parents' divorce brought him and his mother face to face with poverty and struggle in life.
Sahir studied at and graduated from Khalsa High School in Ludhiana. After his graduation, he began to shuttle between Lahore and Ludhiana. In Lahore, in 1939, he began studying at Government College, where Amrita Pritam became his most ardent fan. She has openly acknowledged her love for Sahir in interviews and her books.[citation needed] He was quite popular for his ghazals and nazms in the college. However, he was soon expelled from the college (some say it was the work of Amrita Pritam's father who did not approve of Sahir as a potential match for his daughter because she was a Sikh and Sahir a Muslim and also because Sahir was poor)[citation needed].
In 1943, after being expelled from college, Sahir settled in Lahore. Here, he completed the writing of his first Urdu work, Talkhiyaan ("Bitterness"). He then began searching for a publisher who would publish his work and after two years of search he found a publisher in 1945. After his work was published, he began editing four Urdu magazines, Adab-e-Lateef, Shahkaar, Prithlari, and Savera; these magazines became very successful[citation needed]. He then became a member of the Progressive Writer's Association. However, inflammatory writings (communist views and ideology) in Savera resulted in the issuing of a warrant for his arrest by the Government of Pakistan. So, somewhere in 1949, Sahir fled from Lahore to Delhi. After a couple of months in Delhi, he moved to and settled in Bombay. A friend of his recalls Sahir telling him "Bombay needs me!"[citation needed].
[edit] Lyrics and Bollywood
Sahir lived on the first floor of the main building of an Andheri outhouse. His famous neighbours included the poet, Gulzar and Urdu litterateur, Krishan Chander. In the 1970s, he constructed Parchaiyaan ("Shadows"), a posh bungalow, and lived there till his death. Journalist, Ali Peter John, who knew the poet personally, says real-estate sharks have been eyeing Sahir's abode after the death of his sister. His belongings and trophies are in a state of ruin, according to the journalist.[citation needed]
Sahir Ludhianvi made his debut in films writing lyrics for the film Aazadi Ki Raah Par (1949). The film had four songs written by him and his first song was Badal Rahi Hai Zindagi.... Both the film and its songs went unnoticed. However, with Naujawaan (1951), he gained recognition. S.D. Burman composed the music for Naujawaan. Even today, the film's lilting song, Thandi Hawayen Lehre Ke Aaye..., remains popular. His first major success came the same year with Guru Dutt's directorial debut, Baazi (1951), again pairing him with music composer, S.D. Burman. After the success of Naujawaan and Baazi, the combination of Sahir Ludhianvi and S.D. Burman came out with many more everlasting songs.
Sahir worked with many music composers, including Ravi, S.D. Burman, Roshan and Khayyam, and has left behind many unforgettable songs for fans of the Indian film industry and its music. Pyaasa marked an end to his successful partnership with S.D. Burman over what is reported to be S.D. Burman's displeasure at Sahir receiving more admiration (and thus credit for the success) from audiences for the words of the lyrics than S.D. Burman did for his memorable tunes.[citation needed] Later, Sahir Ludhianvi teamed up with composer N. Dutta in several films. Dutta, a Goan, was a great admirer of Sahir's revolutionary poetry. They had already worked together to produce the music for Milaap (1955). Sahir wrote many unforgettable gems for Dutta.
In 1958, Sahir wrote the lyrics for Ramesh Saigal's film Phir Subah Hogi, which was based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. The male lead was Raj Kapoor and it was presumed that Shankar-Jaikishan would be the music composers. However, Sahir insisted that only someone who had read the novel could provide the right score. Thus, Khayyam ended up as the music composer for the film and the song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi with minimal background music remains an all-time hit. Khayyam went on to work with Sahir in many films including Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul.
Admirers and critics rate Sahir's work in Guru Dutt's Pyaasa as his finest. Pyaasa, some say, bears resemblance to Sahir's early years as a poet. The onscreen poet, Vijay played by Guru Dutt, bears a strong likeness to the man whose poetry gave the film its soul.
Sahir Ludhianvi's work in the 1970s was restricted to films mainly directed by Yash Chopra. Though his output in terms of number of films had thinned out, the quality of his writing commanded immense respect. Kabhie Kabhie (1976) saw him return to sparkling form. These songs won him his second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist, the first being for Taj Mahal (1963).
On October 25, 1980, at the age of fifty-nine, Sahir Ludhianvi died after suffering a massive heart attack in the midst of a card game. His final works were released for the Hindi film Lakshmi (1982). He will always be remembered along with Kaifi Azmi as the poet who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Over twenty-five years after Sahir Ludhianvi's death, his poetry and lyrics remain an inspiration for lyricists of the day. Composers and singers of Sahir's time swear by the depth, intensity and purity in his poetry. As singer, Mahendra Kapoor said in a Vividh Bharati interview, "I don't think a writer like Sahir Ludhianvi will be born again". Ever the champion of the underdog, Sahir Ludhianvi and his poetry will have special place in the hearts of sensitive souls.
[edit] The Person
[edit] Personality
It was ironically appropriate; while the poet's heart bled for others, he never paid enough attention to his own life, and had a card-player's nonchalance about life and death. His friend, Prakash Pandit once recalled how, after the Partition of India, Sahir was unhappy without the company of his Hindu and Sikh friends (they had all fled to India) and a secular India was Sahir's preference to an Islamic Pakistan[1].
Sahir Ludhianvi was known to be very egotistic[citation needed], perhaps as a result of his zamindaar background; he fought for, and became the first lyricist or songwriter, to get royalties from music companies. Sahir often insisted on writing the songs before the song was composed, against the Bollywood norm. However, some of his songs were written after the tunes were ready. For example, Maang ke saath tumhaara (Naya Daur 1957 - music by O.P. Nayyar). Also at the height of his popularity, Sahir is known to have demanded excess payment of one rupee for writing the song over what was paid to Lata Mangeshkar for singing it.[citation needed] However, in exchange for this, he was deeply involved in the setting of musical tunes as well as writing lyrics to go with them - and so produced melodious musical tunes. It was on Sahir's insistence that the All India Radio started naming the lyricists along with the singers and the music composers for the songs being aired.[citation needed] Before Sahir, the music composer, followed by the play-back singers usually took credit for the popularity and success of the songs in films.
[edit] Poetry
A colossus amongst film lyricists, Sahir Ludhianvi was slightly different from his contemporaries. A poet unable to praise Khuda (God), Husn (Beauty) or Jaam (Wine), his pen was, at its best, pouring out bitter but sensitive lyrics over the declining values of society, the senselessness of war and politics, and the domination of materialism over love. Whenever he wrote any love songs, they were tinged with sorrow, due to realisation that there were other, starker concepts more important than love. He could be called the underdog's bard; close to his heart were the farmer crushed by debt, the soldier gone to fight someone else's war, the woman forced to sell her body, the youth frustrated by unemployment, the family living on the street and other victims of society.
Sahir Ludhianvi's poetry had a "Faizian" quality. Like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, he too gave Urdu poetry an intellectual element that caught the imagination of the youth of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He helped them discover their spine. Sahir asked questions, and was not afraid of calling a spade, a bloody spade, and he roused people from an independence-induced smugness. He would pick on the self-appointed custodian of religion, the self-serving politician, the exploitative capitalist, and the war-mongering super-powers.
Sahir's poetry reflected the mood of the age. Whether it was the arrest of progressive writers in Pakistan, the launch of the satellite Sputnik or the discovery of Ghalib by a government lusting after minority votes, Sahir reacted with a verve not seen in many writers' work. Kahat-e-Bangal ("The Famine of Bengal"), written by a 25-year-old Sahir, bespeaks maturity that came early. His Subah-e-Navroz ("Dawn of a New Day"), mocks the concept of celebration when the poor exist in squalor.
[edit] Relationships
Although Sahir Ludhianvi remained a bachelor all his life, he had two failed love affairs with journalist Amrita Pritam and singer/actress Sudha Malhotra, respectively. [1] These relationships could not be cemented in marriage because these women's fathers refused to let them marry a Muslim.[citation needed] In fact, Sahir Ludhianvi was an atheist. These relationships had left Sahir Ludhianvi an embittered man and he also had taken to drinking heavliy and drank himself deep into alcoholism. The tragedies and pathos of his personal life most truly reflected in his poignant poetry. He remained single all his life.
His relationship with Amrita Pritam was so passionate, that at one time while attending a press conference, Amrita wrote his name hundreds of times on a sheet of paper. The two of them would meet without saying a word and Sahir would puff away with his cigarettes, and after he left, Amrita would smoke the cigarette butts left by him. After his death, she hoped the smoke from her cigarettes would meet him in the other world. [2]
It is also said that Sahir constructed a taller house than Amrita Pritam's house in their front at Ludhiana because while his talk was going on regarding his marriage-proposal for Amrita then her father pointed out his poverty and mentioned that Sahir had no house of his own to live with Amrita after marriage which could never materialize.
[edit] Famous works
- English translations of Sahir's poetry: LUDHIANVI, Sahir (1921-1980)
- SHADOWS SPEAK tr. with intro. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas {Abbas, Khwaja Ahmad} pref. Sajjad Zaheer {Zaheer, Sajjad} English text only. P.P.H. Bookstall (Bombay) 129pp (intro. 7-12) 1958 paper only.
- THE BITTER HARVEST tr. Rifat Hassan {Hassan, Rifat} Urdu & English texts. Aziz Publishers (Lahore) 169pp (pref. i-iii) 1977 cloth only.
- SORCERY/ (Sahir) tr. with pref. Sain Sucha {Sucha, Sain} Urdu & English texts. Vudya Kitaban Forlag (Sollentuna, Sweden) 114pp (pref. 1-6, essay in Urdu 106-114) 1989 paper only.
[edit] Bollywood Songs
Sahir Ludhianvi penned some of the finest Bollywood songs.
- Aana Hai To Aa (Naya Daur 1957), composed by O.P. Nayyar
- Allah Tero Naam, Ishwar Tero Naam (Hum Dono 1961), composed by Jaidev
- Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye (Gumrah), composed by Ravi
- Man re tu kaahe na dheer dhare? (Chitralekha 1964), composed by Roshan
- Main pal do pal ka shaayar hoon (Kabhie Kabhie 1976), composed by Khayyam
- Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai (Pyaasa 1957), composed by S.D. Burman
- Ishwar Allah Tere Naam (Naya Raasta 1970), composed by N. Dutta
- Tu Hindu Banega na musalman banega (Dhool ka Phool) composed by N. Dutta
- Ye ishq ishq hai ( Barsat ki Raat)
- Sansar se bhaage phirte ho, Bagwaan ko tum kya paaoge (Chitralekha 1964), composed by Roshan
[edit] Published Collections of Urdu poetry
- Talkhiyan ("Bitterness")
