Sahir & Shairi, Films of Sahir Ludhianvi Options

[swarapriya]

Sahir & Shairi

Films of Shair Ludhianvi

Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shair Hoon
Pal Do Pal Meri Kahaani Hai
Pal Do Pal Meri Hasti Hai
Pal Do Pal Meri Jawaani Hai

….

Kal Aur Aayenge Naghmon Ki
Khilti Kaliyaan Chun Ne Waale
Mujh Se Behattar Kahne Waale
Tum Se Behattar Sun Ne Waale


The poet who wrote these words, Sahir Ludhianvi, in reality would be remembered for ever as long as people who love literature and especially poems like this exist. It is the greatness of his humility that he speaks of other poets who write better than him will come sometime tomorrow. That is a definite possibility. But for now, he probably is the greatest of those we know.

Abdul Hayee, better known as Sahir Ludhianvi, was born in 1921 into an aristocratic Muslim family in Ludhiana, Punjab. But he spent much of his childhood in poverty. This transition from worldly comforts to a meager existence took place when he was still very young. At 13, his father took a second wife. His mother left Sahir’s father in protest of his decision to marry again, taking Sahir with her. For the rest of his childhood Sahir lived in constant fear because his father has vowed to kill him to spite his mother.

With hard work Sahir managed to survive and was admitted to a college only to be dismissed for bad behavior because he disobeyed the principal’s rules by sitting on the lawn with a female student. He enrolled in another college and fell in love with one of his college students, named Amrita Pritam, who responded by reciprocating his love. Sahir found himself expelled from the college for the second time because of his writings in the college magazine that the school authorities found to be disruptive. His hopes of marrying Amrita, who was a Sikh by her faith, came to an abrupt end because her father was against his daughter marrying a Muslim. Frustrated and dejected, Sahir decided to give up college and move to Lahore. This was in 1943.

It took two years for Sahir to find a publisher to publish his book “Talkhiyaan”, a collection of poems Sahir has been writing for the last several years. These poems, written from the depths of his heart receive attention, making his name immediately recognizable. This led him to employment. Sahir worked as a magazine editor and his writings and the magazine became popular. Eventually he was able to simultaneously edit as many as four different magazines. His writings adorned all of them. Readers loved Sahir’s beautifully thought out poems, which in turn increased his popularity, thus leading to the popularity of the magazines.

At this time Sahir become a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA). Immensely influenced by the organization’s communist ideology, he started publishing writings against the repressive government in the magazines he was editing. It was 1949. India and Pakistan have been two separate and independent countries for nearly two years. Incensed by Sahir’s writings, branding them to be inflammatory, in 1949 the Government of Pakistan issued a warrant for his arrest. Sahir managed to flee to Delhi. From Delhi he eventually moved to Bombay in search of work. Based on his credentials as a writer, it did not take long for Sahir to land a job writing lyrics for movies. First movie he wrote lyrics for was, “Azad Ki Raah Par”, released in 1949.

In 1949, Sahir was just 28 years old. In that short span of life, he underwent more ups and downs than many people experience in a lifetime. These experiences undoubtedly left a mark on Sahir, turning him into the type of writer he was. His lyrics and poetry had such moving intensity, leaving an indelible mark on those who read or heard his work. He wrote with purity, depth, sadness and hope about declining societal values, the senselessness of the political machine and the havoc to countless lives brought on by war. His command of the written word was so complete that his readers felt as though he was addressing their individual hearts.

His first lyrics written for the film “Azad Ki Raah Par (1949)” failed to make any impression. The movie was a flop and the songs also did not do well. The very next year, in 1950, Sahir had an opportunity to work with the music director S.D. Burman in the film “Afsar”. His success with the film secured work for him on three different films in 1951, all with the great Burmanda: “Naujawan”, “Baazi”, and “Sazaa”. Songs from these films became huge hits, especially from “Baazi”. After this series of successes there was no looking back for Sahir. The Burmanda-Sahir collaboration resulted in several beautiful songs. They worked together on 15 films and their collaboration reached a peak with “Pyaasa”. Sadly this was the last time the duo would work together.

In nearly 30 years of film work, Sahir worked on about 80 films. Songs from most of these films exhibit his literary skills and most of them are still popular today. His most significant work came in Guru Dutt’s “Pyaasa (1957)”. The very next year his work for “Phir Subah Hogi” solidified his position as being unparalleled when it came to writing about the hypocrisies and declining values of society.

While Sahir’s professional life flourished, his love life, sadly, continued to involve heartache. His love for singer Sudha Malhotra, who was Hindu, never materialized because of their different religions.

By 1970’s Sahir’s work output declined. During this period, most of his songs were written for Chopra Brothers’ films, especially Yash Chopra. But even with only a few assignments he had, Sahir always wrote from his heart. Yash Chopra’s “Kabhi Kabhie” made in 1976 is a glittering example of this.

Sahir passed away when he was only 59 years old after a massive heart attack during a card game.

Sahir won the Filmfare award twice as the best lyricist, in 1964 for “Taj Mahal” and in 1976 for “Kabhi Kabhie”. He was also awarded Padmashri by the Government of India.

In the next few months I would like to share with you Sahir’s great poetry through the songs from the films he wrote for. First, let is look at his filmography …

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Apr 16 2010, 10:24 AM

[swarapriya]

Baazi (1951)

“Baazi” tells the story of an ordinary man turning into a criminal as a shortcut to social mobility. This movie was a huge hit when it was released. It paved way for Dev to repeat the same role successfully later in Guru Dutt’s “Jaal (1952)” and Chetan Anand’s “Taxi Driver (1954)”. But “Baazi” has done more than this. This film was responsible for launching several people’s careers. Let’s see how it shaped lives of some of the important and most influential people in the film industry …

It gave Guru Dutt his first start as a director. Dev, a friend of Guru, promised to have Guru direct a film when he turned into a producer. Dev kept his end of the bargain by giving the assignment to Guru for the movie “Baazi” he was producing. Guru, who also acted in several movies, briefly appears in this movie at the very beginning.

It also gave Raj Khosla an opportunity to work as an assistant director for Guru for the first time. Raj was a close friend of Dev and wanted to be a singer. Dev offered him the job to work with Guru until Raj can find success in the field of his choosing. Khosla was assistant to Guru for four of his movies; “Baazi (1951)”, “Baaz (1953)”, “Jaal (1952)”, and “Aar Paar (1954)”. In 1956, Raj turned into a full-time director when Guru offered him to direct Dev in “C.I.D.” By the way, Raj also appears in a scene in "Baazi".

It introduced Badruddin (Jamaluddin Kazi), later christened as Johnny Walker by Guru in his third movie, as a comedian. Balraj Sahni who met Johnny Walker on the sets of “Hulchul (1951)” introduced him to Dev and Guru on the sets of “Baazi”. In the original story there was no role of Johnny Walker. But impressed by his comedy, Guru created a role even after the movie was half way completed. By the way, Sahni was the coauthor of the story of “Baazi” with Guru Dutt. He also worked on the screenplay. When Sahni was busy shooting for “Hulchul”, Guru made several changes to the script. Sahni Saab didn’t like what happened, and he never again worked with Guru.

The movie also introduced a new heroine, Kalpana Kartik. She would later marry Dev in real life. Chetan Anand, Dev’s older brother, was very unhappy with Guru because he thought Guru was unreasonable on his demands with a newcomer. At one point he decided take over for Guru, mostly because of Balraj Sahni’s protests, and shot the film himself for a couple of days. (Balraj Sahni and Chetan Anand were classmates. They both were also members of Indian People’s Theatre Association, IPTA.) When Guru complained about this, Dev intervened and gave Guru complete control of the film.

Sahir Ludhianvi already wrote for a couple of films before this movie. But this was the movie that established him as a force to reckon with. One can see the promise of great things cominng from his pen in future years.

This was also the movie in which Geeta Roy shed her image as a singer of devotional and sad songs. Burmanda, who composed some beautiful music for the movie, had her sing several fast paced songs. This opened up a whole new singing phase for Geetaji.

This was only part of the story for Geetaji. She and Guru Dutt, fell in love with each other during the shooting of the movie. This eventually led to their marriage in 1954.

The movie has nine songs. Seven of them are solos by Geetaji. Each of the song is an utter delight. The song “Tadbeer Se Bigdi” created a sensation when the movie was released. Audience flocked to see Geeta Bali perform a dance to this song over and over again. Interestingly, Sahir wrote it to be a ghazal. It was Burmanda’s idea to give the song a western touch. This as well as rest of the songs from this movie and the movie itself became huge hits.

Many experts believe that the movie became successful mostly because of the way songs were picturized. This skill Guru Dutt exhibited in this movie only improved from film to film he produced or directed. His scenes in this film lift mundane to unusual. He uses what someone called as “rhythmic editing” by taking many close-up shots. The climax of the scene with Geetaji’s song, “Suno Gajar Kya Gaaye”, is still remembered as one that builds the tempo brilliantly and maintains the nail biting tension.

I am uploading songs from this film in three back-to-back posts. Here is first set of songs …

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Apr 16 2010, 10:27 PM