Sahir Ludhianvi and Jan Nisaar Akhtar
Vijay
written about it on, AFAIR, RMIM a few months back. I had heard it
first about 20 odd years ago and considered it absolute BS. One doesn't
have to be a pucca Sahir fan to treat with scepticism the notion that
Jan Nisaar Akhtar wrote much of sahir's work. I forget all the details
as to how it was prepeterated but IIRC, alcohol was somehow part of it.
When I heard it first time, the person arguing in favour of the story
offered a couple of Akhtar's she'rs as examples of how close he was to
Sahir in his writing. I remember only the one:
sharam aati hai ki us shehar meN ham haiN ke jahaaN
na mile bhiik to laakhoN ka guzaara hii na ho!
I thought this she'r did not have as much to do with Shair's style as
with his left leaning, progressive bend and that Kaifi, faiz, anyone of
them could have said something like this.
When I was in Lahore last August, I picked up, among many others,
Kulliaat-e-JaaN Nisaar AKhtar, to peruse it for pleasure as well to put
the Sahir/AKhtar theory to test, i.e. to see if there are any nazms,
ghazals that are reminiscent of Sahir's style. Well, I had bought quite
a few books and only now have come to Jan Nisaar Akhtar. He has written
many many more ghazals than Sahir and really, I couldn't find much in
those to suggest anything, other than that they aren't, IMHO, all very
good. But then I came across a couple of nazms, and I post one below,
which sort of caused a Eureka moment; a feeling that I could have
mistaken this one for Sahir (if I hadn't read all of Sahir 20 times
over AND not known that this was Jan Nisaar). Even the title of the
nazm, ANdesha, is Sahiresque. See what you think:
mujh ko aksar tere pehluu meN Khyaal aata hai
tuu kahiiN mujh se mira zauq-e-safar chhiin na le
teri zulfoN kii yeh lehraati huui chhaaoN kahiiN
mer qadmoN meN meri raah guzar chhiin na le
yeh terii narm, lapetii huuii baahoN ka gudaaz
merii palkoN se mera Khoon-e-jigar chhin na le
yeh tera loch, yeh narmi, yeh ltaafat yeh jmaal
sirf fun de ke kahiiN, fiqr-o-nazar chiin na le
merii raatoN ke muqqadar ko sajane vaali
shaairii se merii ailaan-e-sehar chiin na le
I got a deja vu feel from '...Khyaal aata hai', '...baahoN ka gudaaz',
'..yeh narmi, yeh lataafat, yeh jmaal' and 'merii raatoN ke muqqadar ko
sajane waali'.
So far I have come across at leat one more nazm that is sahiresque and
I will post it if people showed intersest. It is:
'maIn tujhe chaahta nahiiN lekin'
Vijay Kumar
P.S. Has anyone else heard this story and can they shed any more light?
Zoya
Vijay wrote:
> The rumour still comes around evry so often and I last saw something
> written about it on, AFAIR, RMIM a few months back. I had heard it
> first about 20 odd years ago and considered it absolute BS. One
doesn't
> have to be a pucca Sahir fan to treat with scepticism the notion that
> Jan Nisaar Akhtar wrote much of sahir's work.
Vijay Kumar Sahib,
This is the first time that I am hearing this rumor, and I do not
believe it for a moment, it seems totally baseless to me.
>
>
> I got a deja vu feel from '...Khyaal aata hai', '...baahoN ka
gudaaz',
> '..yeh narmi, yeh lataafat, yeh jmaal' and 'merii raatoN ke muqqadar
ko
> sajane waali'.
I do agree that this particular nazm reminds you of Sahir, but then
that is not so unusual in poets of the same era, is it?
>
> So far I have come across at leat one more nazm that is sahiresque
and
> I will post it if people showed intersest. It is:
>
> 'maIn tujhe chaahta nahiiN lekin'
Now this is one of my all time favorite nazms, and definitely one of
JaaN nisar Akhtar's best. But no, this one has never reminded me of
Sahir.
>
>
> Vijay Kumar
>
> P.S. Has anyone else heard this story and can they shed any more
light?
Let us see what others have to say about this.
________________Zoya
Afzal A. Khan
I think people have to look into the archives of
another Newsgroup (RMIM) to learn more about this
rumour. You may even find a couple of posts from
yours truly.
The rumours were really current in the late sixties
and I have myself heard them and also read about them
in Bombay magazines/newspapers. The fact remains that
despite JNA's credentials as a poet of some eminence,
he could never gain a stronghold in the film industry.
In those days, I suppose, merely being a poet was never
sufficient to keep the home fires burning. Of course,
if you had some regular and decent job (as a College
Professor, for instance), then things might be a little
easier. OTOH, Sahir had made quite a reputation for
himself as a film lyricist, and led a comparatively
affluent life. I think he was also in receipt of some
royalty from his publications that had come out as early
as the forties. He had taken to drinking in later life
and the rumour maintained that he and JNA had come to some
sort of an understanding --- JNA would write some of the
film lyrics and get a (smaller) share of the remuneration.
Sahir would of course be credited with their authorship.
I would like to emphasise that this was just a rumour; to my
knowledge, it was never substantiated. There could be some
truth in it, or it might have been purely baseless. Maybe
if someone like Javed Akhtar or Shabana Azmi were to reveal
some details, the matter can be resolved. But it is hardly
likely that either of them would ever do so. Another point
to be noted is that the rumour was confined to just film
lyrics, and not to regular poetic output.
Although he never enjoyed the kind of success that he
really deserved, there is no denying the calibre of his
film lyrics. Writing them is an art in itself. And few
regular (main-line) Urdu poets have succeeded in this field
too. Some examples of JNA's finesse in this respect are
given below :
Razia Sultan : Aayee zaNjeer ki aawaaz KHuda KHair kare
Ai del-e-naadaan
Rustam Sohrab : Ai dilruba nazreN mila
Yeh kaisi 'ajab daastaaN ho gayee hai
Anarkali : Ai jaan-e-wafa aa
Kalpana : BeKHudi had se jab guzar jaaye
Black Cat : MaiN tumheeN se poochhti hooN
Prem Parbat : Yeh dil aur unki nigaahoN ke saaye
Yaasmeen : Bechain nazar betaab jigar
Ab woh raateN kahaaN, ab woh baateN kahaaN
Mujh pe ilzaam-e-bewafaayee hai
One shouldn't really examine these lyrics from a purely
literary angle. But, as examples of film-lyric writing,
these constitute excellent penmanship. One of my own
favourites is the last song in the above list. He has
woven appropriate idioms in a most effective manner,
without using difficult Urdu/Farsi words.
Just my 2-cents worth.
Afzal
Amit Malhotra
<me_a...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>
>Zoya wrote:
>>
>> Vijay wrote:
>> > The rumour still comes around evry so often and I last saw something
>> > written about it on, AFAIR, RMIM a few months back. I had heard it
>> > first about 20 odd years ago and considered it absolute BS. One
>> doesn't
>> > have to be a pucca Sahir fan to treat with scepticism the notion that
>> > Jan Nisaar Akhtar wrote much of sahir's work.
>>
>> > I got a deja vu feel from '...Khyaal aata hai', '...baahoN ka
>> gudaaz',
>> > '..yeh narmi, yeh lataafat, yeh jmaal' and 'merii raatoN ke muqqadar
>> ko
>> > sajane waali'.
>>
>> I do agree that this particular nazm reminds you of Sahir, but then
>> that is not so unusual in poets of the same era, is it?
>>
>> >
>> > So far I have come across at leat one more nazm that is sahiresque
>> and
>> > I will post it if people showed intersest. It is:
>> >
>> > 'maIn tujhe chaahta nahiiN lekin'
>>
> Afzal
I just wanted to give my 2 cents as well, but before i do that.. let
me say that as a die-hard Sahir fan, i find it very hard to believe
that Sahir could have asked someone to write for him.
Vijay sahib, I think one thing to be noticed is that like Afzal sahib
said, these rumours were only regarding his film lyrics and not his
poems. Considering these rumours say that only later in his life when
Sahir had started drinking more and more, JNA came in as a writer for
him.. this definitely excludes his poetry as 'talkhiyaaN', his only
major publication, was published long before that. right?
Amit Malhotra
Vijay
but if ,as you state, the stroy only invoves film lyrics and that too
at a later date in Sahir's career, the burden of my scepticism becomes
considerably lighter. The believers, years ago, used to argue
vehemently how 'most' of Sahir's work was JNA's. I never believed a
word, even when people cited 'reputable' magazines. (BTW, Did Raju
Bhartan write something about this? Not that I would consider his word
'reputable':-))
Be as it may, I have read more of JNA since I posted. He is a fine
writer (as the examples of his film lyrics you provided indicate,
occasionally even very fine, but not as good as Sahir, and certainly
not as 'consistently' good as Sahir. This is strictly my personal
opinion and I mean no offense to JNA fans out there.
Amit Sahib, Zoya Sahiba: I have been a Sahir fan as long as I have been
a lover of Urdu Poetry and this rumour (in its various forms) has
troubled me for a while. Hence my posting to try to get to the bottom
of it.
Regards,
Vijay
Afzal A. Khan
> Vijay
I may add that whatever I had read at the time about this
rumour was in Urdu newspapers/magazines. Poor Raju
Bharatan doesn't come into the picture !
Since you have mentioned about your "scepticism", let me
also add my opinion. And that is : there could definitely
be a grain of truth in this rumour. First of all, the
rumours began circulating only in the (late) sixties.
Both Sahir and JNA were contemporaries and had entered the
film industry around the same time. Sahir's first film
was probably "Naujawaan" which was released in 1951.
JNA's "Anarkali" song was written around 1952. Sahir
continued to scale the heights of success, but there were
no rumours about his songs. It took about 16-17 years after
Sahir's entry in films that the rumours first surfaced.
JNA's was a very laid-back character. To my knowledge, he
never indulged in seeking (or creating) publicity about
himself. It is hardly likely that he was in any way behind
these rumours so late in their career. In any case, he had
nothing to gain --- by that time, he was resigned to his
fate as a "has-been".
There have been persistent rumours that the main-line poetry
of Javed Akhtar (JNA's son) has been "inspired" by his
father's poetry --- the suggestion being that he has come
across his father's unpublished poems and appropriated them.
As I said earlier, JNA does have some credentials as a serious
poet, though (maybe) not in the same class as Sahir. The
latter was well-established as a poet as early as the forties.
I think his "TalKHiyaaN" was published around 1945. Maybe
his stay in Lahore and his association with other writers of
that region contributed to his popularity and fame. Apart
from the intrinsic worth of his poetry, that is.
Afzal
Afzal A. Khan
As I said in reply to Vijay Saheb, "TalKHiyaaN" was
published in the mid-forties.
I understand that, as a die-hard Sahir fan, you find
it hard to believe the he could have asked someone
else to write for him. But, if there is any truth to
this rumour, we need not hold it against Sahir or think
of it as something beneath his ethics or self-respect.
For all that we know, it could have been for an altruistic
purpose --- one noted poet doing something for a worthy
but less fortunate colleague. As it is, JNA wasn't finding
enough assignments in the film industry, whereas Sahir was
very very popular. So it could have been out of sympathy.
Also, this demonstrates that Sahir did hold JNA in suffi -
ciently high esteem to pass on the latter's lyrics as his
own. I for one do not think that this shows Sahir in a
poor light. Just my opinion.
Afzal
Amit Malhotra
<me_a...@privacy.net> wrote:
you make a very valid point Afzal sahib
Regards,
Amit Malhotra
Zoya
> you make a very valid point Afzal sahib
>
> Regards,
>
> Amit Malhotra
I agree, Amit. And Vijay Sahib, thanks for raising the topic on Alup. I
am sorry that my initial reaction was to just dismiss these rumors, but
now I can see how there might be some truth to them.
Afzal Sahib, if possible, can you please provide the names of some of
the Hindi movies that were rumored to have JNA lyrics credited to
Sahir. I am asking this just out of curiousity.
Regards,
____________________Zoya
Afzal A. Khan
Zoya wrote:
>
> >
> > you make a very valid point Afzal sahib
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Amit Malhotra
> Afzal Sahib, if possible, can you please provide the names of some of
> the Hindi movies that were rumored to have JNA lyrics credited to
> Sahir. I am asking this just out of curiousity.
> ____________________Zoya
I don't think any movies or even songs were specifically
mentioned in these rumours. And that is quite under -
standable. If that had been done, there would have been
a great furore, bad feelings all around and, possibly,
some litigation too.
Afzal