Khwaabon Ka Shehzaada - Sahir Ludhianvi, on his 28th death anniversary Options Rating

[Anupama]

Today is Sahir Ludhianvi's 28th death anniversary. Sahir once said, "Kal Aur Aayenge Naghmon Ki Khilti Kaliyaan Chun-ne Waale, Mujhse Behtar Kehne Waale, Tumse Behtar Sun-ne Waale", but how do we tell Sahir sahab that there hasn't been anyone who has proved to be a better poet than him. Talk about better, there isn't even anyone who has come close to Sahir Ludhianvi after him!
I wish he hadn't left us all so early. His presence and his thoughts would have made the Hindi Music World a better one. I pay tribute to this great poet!



Itni Jaldi Bhi Kya Thi Sahir Tum Ko Jaane Ki
Kuchh Aur Talkhiyaan Dekh Lete Zamaane Ki______Anupama


I'm posting, along with his pictures, some Nazmz that Sahir Ludhianvi's friends wrote after his demise.



This post has been edited by Anupama: Oct 26 2008, 01:00 AM

[Anupama]

I shared this before on Madhavi's thread two years ago. Posting it again:


Amrita Pritam wrote in her autobiography - Raseedi Ticket :-

"I recall - many years ago when Sahir had come to Delhi, he invited me and Imroz to the hotel where he was staying. We were there for a couple of hours. Sahir had placed an order for whisky and there were three glasses on the table. We returned deep into the night.And when it was almost midnight - Sahir called me up saying : " There are still three glasses lying on the table, and by turn I am sipping from each of them, and writing '' These Empty Goblets Are My Companions." ( Mere Saathi Khaali Jaam )

Then she writes - Only nature is likely to know that there was some thread, who knows related to which birth, which even in this birth was wrapped around the three of us.In 1990 when Jalandhar Doordarshan shot a film on my life they asked me to reflect on my relationship with both Sahir Ludhianvi and Imroz - At that point , I had said - "There is only one sole relationship of pain - of agony - of the hiccup of separation - of musical resonance of the pipe which can be heard despite those hiccups of longing.This was the relationship with Sahir - this is the relationship with Imroz.. This was Sahir's love when I wrote : -

Tumhe Phir Yaad Kiya Hai
Hum Ne Phir Aag Ko Chooma
Ishq Chahe Ek Zehar Ka Pyala Sahi
Maine Ek Ghoont Peena Chaha_______Amrita Pritam



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here is Madhavi's excellent write-up on Mehfil Se Utha Jaane Waalo


Dooj ka Chand(1964): Roshan

Mehfil se uth jane walon tum logon par kya ilzaam
Tum abaad gharon ke baasi main awaara aur badnaam
Mere Saathi, mere saathi, mere saathi khaali jaam

Do din tumne pyar jataya, do din tumse mel raha
Aachha khasa waqt kata aur achha khasa khel raha
Ab us khel ka jikr hi kaisa, waqt kata aur khel tamaam
Mere saathi...

Tumne dhoondhi sukh ki daulat, maine pala gham ka rog
Kaise banta kaise nibhta ye rishta aur ye sanjog
Maine dil ko dil se tola tumne maange pyar ke daam
Mere Saathi ...

Tum duniya ko behtar samjhe main pagal tha khwaar hua
Tumko apnane nikla tha khud se bhi bezaar hua
Dekh liya ghar phoonk tamasha jaan liya apna anjaam
Mere saathi...

Bezaar: angry, disgusted, out of humor
Khar: angry, thistle/thorn,


Mehfil se uth jane walon... the sense of being suddenly abandoned, it is a very dramatic and visual beginning. The word "abaad" is suggestive of being peopled, flourishing, whereas the opposite of that would be "barbaad" which is not actually used in the song to describe the poet's situation. Instead the opposting term is "awaara" "badnaam" suggesting his disassociation from any social moorings...
The only companions he has are -and it is in the repetition and brilliant rendition of Rafi's "mere saathi, mere saathi, mere saathi...khali jaam", that the song really packs the emotional punch...and it is this word "Khaali" that finally opposes the earlier analogies of mehfil and abaad.

That emptiness seeps into the following stanzas. He rejects any sense of fulfillment in their relationship, it has been a futile time offering nothing, "waqt Kata aur khel tamam".
The opposing images that he chooses for the lover and the girl who left him are unique in that they do not form what I can only call parallel oppositions. In the same way as "abaad" is not pitted against "barbaad" in the second stanza, in response to"tumne dhoondhi sukh ki daulat" the poet is not saying he has chosen "pyar ki daulat" but uses the much more galling "maine pala gham ka rog" ... It is definitely not a positive emotion that he pits against his beloved's materialism... There is nothing heroic or defiant but something very dreary about this image, it is a sickness that he has nurtured...Only in the last line does he allow himself an accusation: "Maine dil ko dil se tola/tumne maange pyar ke daam" but in the next stanza the tone lapses back into despair.

A situation where the beloved has chosen someone else over the lover/poet and is obviously in a better position is often accusatory in tone but in this song the dominant emotion is that of exhausion. He agrees that she understood the world better, she is a survivor, he is the crazy one who ended up getting angry and disillusioned. The second line is an ironic look at himself, rare in disappointed lovers... "tumko apnane nikla tha khud se bhi bezaar hua" he was looking to support her in a relationship and has ended up alienated from himself. The self criticism continues, he has ended up with nothing, his "house" blown up into dust, becoming a mere spectacle of the moment and he knows where he is headed...

Now take a look at another song from a drunk lover once again in Rafi's magical voice(I cannot imagine any other singer singing this song)

Whereas the first song emerges out of personal disappointment at the breaking up of a relationship the self ananlysis, depairing though it is,still functions from within the parameters(social/material/emotional), drawn by society. The second song is much more nihilistic. Emerging out of the same situation, it goes on to incredible, iconoclastic denunciations, a coalesing of perhaps a lot of the questions and emotions that one feels/or might feel across the span of a lifetime, or some of those at least...

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Thank you, Madhavi!