By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Urdu Academy of North America's November 18, 2018 literary session was dedicated to the life and work of popular Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi.
The event was held at the Pakistani American Community Center in Milpitas CA.
Poetess Kausar Saiyed was MC of the event. She presented a well researched Maqala on the life and work Sahir Ludhianvi.
As usual a number of Urdu enthusiasts recited the poetry of the popular Urdu poet: Moiz Khan, Hatem Rani, Mehmoodul Hasan, Zafar Khan Yusufzai, Amrut Wanapal, Mobeen Khalil, Abdus Sattar Ghazali, Tassaduq Hussain Attari, Zeba Rivzi, Zeeshan Abbasi and Prof. Hamid Kamal Narvi.
Muneeba Zeeshan, Mobeen Khalil, Dr. Priya Satia and Sulekha Chaudhri amused the audience with melodious singing of Sahir Ludhyanvi's poetry.
Sahir Ludhianvi was born in 1921 at Ludhiana, Punjab. His real name was Abdul Hai Fazl Mohammad and 'Sahir' was his pseudonym. His father Chaudhary Fazl Mohammad was a wealthy land-owner of Sikhewal and belonged to Gujrat community. When he was hardly six months old, his mother separated from his father on account of temperamental differences and took him along.
Under the guidance of Maulana Faiz Harbanvi, he cultivated interest in the study of Urdu and Persian and soon obtained mastery over these languages. Since his childhood, he started composing poetry. While going through one of Iqbal's couplets, he found the word 'Sahir' which meant enchanter or magician.
He took it as his pen-name. As a student, Sahir was deeply concerned with socio-economic and political problems of the country and actively participated in the students' movement and addressed many public rallies and meetings.
Sahir left Ludhiana for Lahore and took admission in the Dayalsingh College where he was elected as the President of the Students' Federation.
After leaving the college mid-way, he joined the editorial staff of a few leading Urdu magazines including Adab-e-latif, Shahkar and Savera.
After independence, he settled in India and devoted himself to composing film songs.
On 25 October 1980, at the age of fifty-nine, Sahir died a sudden cardiac death (heart attack) (he had been a smoker and drinker). He died in the presence of his friend, Dr Kapoor. Sahir was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery.
Sahir's work as a lyricist in the film industry gave him financial stability beyond his earnings as a poet. He made his debut with four songs performed in the film Azadi Ki Raah Par (1949).
One of the songs was Badal Rahi Hai Zindagi. Both the film and its songs went unnoticed. However, after Naujawaan (1951), with music by S.D. Burman, Sahir gained recognition. Sahir's major success was Baazi (1951). Again, the composer was Burman. Sahir was then considered part of Guru Dutt's team.
The last film Sahir made with Burman was Pyaasa. In Pyaasa, Guru Dutt played a poet named Vijay. After Pyaasa, Sahir and Burman went separate ways due to artistic and contractual differences.
Sahir did work with other composers including Ravi, Roshan, Khayyam and Datta Naik. Datta Naik also credited as N. Datta, a Goan, admired Sahir's poetry and their collaboration produced the score for Milaap (1955), Chandrakanta (1956), Saadhna (1958), Dhool Ka Phool (1959). Sahir also worked with music director Laxmikant-Pyarelal in the films like "Man Ki Aankhe", "Izzat", "Dustan" and Yash Chopra's "Daag" all have fabulous songs.
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 song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi with its minimal background music remains popular. Khayyam collaborated with Sahir in many films including Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul.
Sahir won a Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He won a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work on Kabhie Kabhie (1976). He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971.
OnMarch 8, 2013, the ninety-second anniversary of Sahir's birth, a commemorative stamp was issued in his honor.
