Urdu Academy pays tribute to Khumar Barabankvi

By Abdus Sattar GhazaliMuniba Zeeshan

The Urdu Academy of North America’s June 20, 2021 literary session was dedicated to the life and work of popular Urdu poet and lyricist Khumar Barabankvi. Muniba Zeeshan was MC of the event, she presented a well researched maqala on the life and work of Khumar Barabankvi.

Poet Arshad Rashid (read Rasheed) welcomed the audience on behalf of the Urdu Academy.

Sofia Zamir of Urdugar Literary Society joined from Dallas, Texas.

As usual, a number of Urdu enthusiasts presented poetry of Khumar: Rehan Mansoor, Bano Vayapura, Anjum Zishan, Qazi Habi, Asad Khan, Manasa Gadepalli, Abdus Sattar Ghazali, Hatem Rani and Tasadduq Hussain Attari.

Asad Khan, Muniba Zeeshan, Qazi Habi  and Manasa Gadepalli amused the audience with the musical presentations. Manasa Gadepalli perhaps stole the show with her melodious presentations.Khumar2

Muniba Zeeshan, who belongs to a literary family, revealed that she has the honor of attending a mushaera where Khumar Barabankavi was chief guest.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali presented two interesting incidents about Khumar Barabankvi.

Poet and lyricist Khumar Barabankvi was born at Barabankavi, Uttar Pradesh on 19th Sep 1919. His real name was Mohammed Haidar Khan, but he was popularly known by his pen name, which is, Khumar, which means intoxication.

Khumar Barabankvi was born into a family of writers. His father Dr. Ghulam Haider, his uncle Qaraar Barabnkvi and his brother Kazim Haider ‘Nigar,’ who died young, all wrote poems.

Khumar Barabankvi had a melodious voice and soon became popular in Mushairas. He also got acquainted with the poet Jigar Muradabadi and remained in association with him for a long period. His ghazals and voice made him a favorite in Mushairas. Jigar Muradabadi and Khumar Barabankvi were known to guarantee for the success of any mushaira with their poetry as well as their melodious voice and style of recitation. Khumar was an ardent supporter of classical ghazal like Jigar Moradabadi.

In 1945, while he attended a Mushaera at Mumbai, he was spotted by film Director A.R. Kardar and music director Naushad, who offered him to write a few songs for 1946 movie, ‘Shahjahan’. ‘Chaah Barbad Kare’ sung by Sehgal became a chartbuster, and Khumar Barabankvi stayed in Bollywood for a few more years, mostly writing songs for Naushad. Many of those movies were directed by K. Asif. ‘Tum Ho Jaao Hamaare’ from Roop Lekha, ‘Loot Liya Mera Qaraar’ from Hulchal and ‘Hasrat Bhari Nazar Ko Tera Intezar’ from ‘Dil Ki Basti’ are among his popular songs during his initial days in cinema. He continued writing film songs in the 1950s and 1960s, though he preferred attending Mushairas most.

His published books include Hadees-e-Deegaraan, Raqs-e-Mai, Shab-e-Tab and Aatish-e-Tar.

Khumar passed away in 1999 at the age of 80.

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