Remembering Sahir Ludhianvi !
iView Author: AKSHAY MANWANI (New Delhi/India)
Email: akshaymanwani [at] gmail [dot] com
Remembering Sahir Ludhianvi !
On the 8th of March 2009, Sahir Ludhianvi’s 88th birth anniversary shall be celebrated. Or maybe not, for in the annals of Indian cinema, Sahir is a forgotten name. This for a man who gave Hindi Cinema some of its finest quality by way of his profound poetry. Think of Guru Dutt’s angst ridden character of ‘Vijay’ in Pyaasa (1957) and the sound of Sahir’s lyrics reverberate immediately in the background with ‘yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai’.
The interesting thing about Sahir’s work was that he always seemed to produce the very definitive work for any situation presented to him. ‘Jaaney who kaise log thai jinkey’ (Pyaasa – 1957) is the final poetic dissertation on spurned love while ‘Jo waada kiya woh nibhana padega’ (Taj Mahal – 1963) seems to be the ultimate commitment to unending love. ‘Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya’ (Hum Dono – 1961) is a poet’s abject surrender to fatalism while ‘Aye meri zohar-e-jabi’ (Waqt – 1965) shall always be the theme when parents rekindle romance. With ‘Allah tero naam’ (Hum Dono – 1961) Sahir reminded man of the oneness of God, while there has never been a more scathing criticism of the state than when Sahir wrote ‘jinhey naaz hai hind par who kahaan hai’ (Pyaasa 1957).
There also seemed to be a novelty to his poetry. I’m reminded of the romantic duet ‘ude jab jab zulfey teri’ in Naya Daur (1957) between Vyjayanthimala and Dilip Kumar where Sahir penned ‘us gaaon pe savar kabhi sajke, ki jahaan mera yaar basta…..’. The allusion to the lover as ‘yaar’ by the heroine herself in this line, is perhaps a one off in the history of our cinema as the word ‘yaar’ has always had negative connotations for the female protagonist in our films (remember Gabbar taunting Basanti with ‘bahut yaarana lagta hai’ in Sholay). Yet, Sahir‘s usage of the word gives the whole line a tinge of innocent naughtiness which is in keeping with the merry nature of the song.
Sahir never quite succeeded on the romantic front in his personal life (an estranged relationship with the writer Amrita Pritam) and one suspects that there was a cathartic release to his emotions by way of lyric writing. Songs such as ‘chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayein hum dono’ from the film Gumraah (1963) or the flippant branding of love as a commodity by terming it ‘shai’ in the song ‘mohabbat bade kaam ki cheez hai’ in Trishul (1978) are ample proof of this premise.
However, this isn’t to suggest that Sahir was dead against the concept of romance or that he could only produce poetry that had a social flavor to it – which clearly come through in lyrics such as ‘woh subah kabhi toh aayegi’ (Phir Subha Hogi – 1958) or ‘Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko’ (Sadhana – 1958). He was equally adept at setting the stage for romantic courting between lovers – ‘hum aap ki aankhon mein is dil ko chipa le toh’) or when championing the cause of a good old fashioned ‘champi’ as sung by Johny Walker in ‘sar jo tera chakraye’. Both songs were once again from Sahir saab’s finest piece of work Pyaasa (1957). In Hum Dono (1961), yet another album where each song written by Sahir for the music director Jaidev is a masterpiece in itself, he gives us the romantic ditty ‘abhi na jaon chor kar, ki dil abhi bhara nahin’ – a plea that is often heard between boy and girl when it’s time to bid adieu.
So from Pyaasa (1957) to Hum Dono (1961) to Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Sahir’s work defined the poetic canvas of Hindi cinema for three decades. In Kabhi Kabhie, which was arguably his last great piece of work as a lyricist, the title track of the film again brings out the ethereal nature of love between man and woman. But it is with ‘Main pal do pal ka shaayar hoon’ in the same film, that one gets a true picture of the man behind the poet that was Sahir Ludhianvi. Self deprecating, but effusive in his praise of his peers and those that would follow him.
And so in an era where Sahir rubbed shoulders with the very best of lyricists (Shailendra, Kaifi Azmi, Shakeel Badayuni, Majrooh Sultanpuri) to take song writing to its creative zenith, it could be argued (based on the contributions highlighted above) that he came in first among these equals. Alas, in our fascination for melody, resulting in endless arguments of pin pointing the best from amongst the music directors and the playback singers, the contribution of the lyricist from yesteryear is forgotten.
On Sahir’s birth anniversary the least we could do is to pledge to give him and his ilk their due.
Tags: Gumrah, Hum Dono, Kabhi Kabhi, Naya Daur, Pyaasa, Sahir Ludhianvi, Taj Mahal, Trishul, waqt
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well written article.
But could have more elaborate for people like me who have just heard his name.Atleast about his debut film.
nicely written……i didnt know much about the great man…so thanks a lot….didnt know most of my favourite songs were written by him…
Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.
superb!!!
good article. saw a docu on saahir sa’ab last evening on some channel, on his birth anniversary. great lyricist and poet, and probably one of the best ever, along with majrooh, kaifi & gulzar.
paaji tussi chaa gaye
Very well written…it is people like you who keep such greats alive even today
thanks a lot for this one…no other lyrics have had more impact on me than pyasa…