My rebellious notes make the world think
that my heart abhors the lyrics of love,
that I find solace in strife and war,
that my very nature relishes blood-letting,
that my world cares not for life's finer things,
that the noise of revolt is music to me.

These lines, translated from Urdu, were written more than 50 years ago, under the title Mere Geet. They remain largely obscure because they are not among the work their author became more famous for: film lyrics. The above lines -- and the reason the poet gives for that state of mind -- reflect, however, an important facet of his personality. The author of these lines, Sahir Ludhianvi, was different. Unable to sing hymns to Khuda (God), Husn (beauty) and Jaam (wine), his pen would rather pour out his anguish and bitterness over social inequities, political cynicism, the artificial barriers that divide mankind, the senselessness of war, the domination of materialism over love.

His loves, and love poems, were tinged with sorrow, with the realisation that there are stark realities more important than romantic love. This facet was seen in his lines for the film Didi:

Zindagi Sirf Mohabbat Nahin Kuch Aur Bhi Hai
Zulf-o-Rukhsaar ki Jannat Nahi Kuch Aur Bhi Hai
Bhookh Aur Pyaas ki Maari Hui Is Duniya Mein
Ishq Hi Ek Haqeeqat Nahin Kuch Aur Bhi Hai.

And in

Pyaar Par Bas To Nahin Hai Lekin Phir Bhi
Tu Bata De Ki Main Tujhe Pyaar Karoon Ya Na Karoon

in the film Sone Ki Chidiya (1958).

Born Abdul Hayee on March 8, 1921, Sahir was the only son of a Ludhiana zamindar. His parents' estrangement and the Partition made him shuttle between India and Pakistan. It also brought him face to face with a struggle called life. A member of the Progressive Writers' Association, he edited Adab-e-Latif, Pritlari, Savera and Shahrab. An arrest warrant issued by the Pakistani government of the day made him flee to Bombay in 1949. By now, he had managed to publish his anthology Talkhiyaan (Bitternesses). Besides Talkhiyaan and the hundreds of film songs he penned in a career spanning three decades, Sahir also authored the anthologies Parchaiyaan, Ao Ki Koi Khwab Buney and Gaata Jaaye Banjara.

Sahir debuted in films with his lyrics for Naujawan (1951). Even today, the film's lilting song Thandi Hawayen Lehrake Aaye makes hearts flutter. His first major success came the same year with Guru Dutt's directorial debut, Baazi, again pairing him with composer S.D. Burman. Together, S.D. Burman and Sahir created some of the most popular songs ever: Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahaan - Jaal (1952); Jaaye to Jaaye Kahaan - Taxi Driver (1954); Teri Duniya Mein Jeene se Behtar Ho Ki Mar Jaayen - House Number 44 (1955); and Jeevan ke Safar Mein Rahi - Munimji (1955). The duo reached their creative zenith with Pyaasa (1957).

All good things, as they say, come to an end. S.D. Burman and Sahir parted ways after Pyaasa and never worked together again. Sahir, already a stalwart as the sixties approached, wrote gems for films like Hum Dono (1961), Gumraah (1963), Taj Mahal (1963), Waqt (1965), Humraaz (1967) and Neel Kamal (1968), teaming up with composers Ravi, Jaidev, N. Datta, Roshan, Khayyam, R.D. Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Sahir's work in the 1970s was mainly restricted to films directed by Yash Chopra. Though his output in terms of number of films had thinned out, the quality of his writings commanded immense respect. Kabhi Kabhie (1976) saw him return to sparkling form. These songs won him his second Filmfare award, the first one being for Taj Mahal.

Sahir's poetry had a Faizian quality. Like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sahir too gave Hindustani/Urdu poetry an intellectual element that caught the imagination of the youth of the forties and fifties and sixties. He helped them to discover their spine. Sahir asked questions, was not afraid of calling a spade a ****** spade, and roused people from an independence-induced smugness. He would pick on the self-appointed custodian of religion, the self-serving politician, the exploitative capitalist, the war-mongering big powers. Aren't they familiar? Close to Sahir's heart were the farmer crushed by debt, the young man sent to the border to fight somebody's dirty war, the lass forced to sell her body, the youth frustrated by unemployment, families living in dire poverty... The underdog remains; his bard is gone.

Whether it was the arrest of progressive writers in Pakistan, the launch of the satellite Sputnik, or the discovery of Ghalib by a government lusting minority votes, Sahir reacted with a verve not seen in many writers' work. Kahat-e-Bangal (The Famine of Bengal), written by a 25-year-old Sahir, bespeaks maturity that came early. His Subah-e-Navroz (Dawn of a New Day), mocks the concept of celebration when the poor exist in squalor.

Writing for films occupied much of Sahir's time and energy in and after the fifties. Never one to compromise while writing for a "lesser" medium, Sahir wrote such gems like Aurat ne Janam Diya Mardon ko Mardon ne Use Bazaar Diya for Sadhana (1958) and Tu Hindu Banega na Musalmaan Banega Insaan ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega for Dhool Ka Phool (1959). Then who can ever forget Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai or Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hain from Pyaasa? Pyaasa, a movie that many suspect was his biography, was the high point of Sahir's genius. By now, Sahir was disillusioned over the state of the nation. His dissatisfaction with Congress policies found voice in songs like Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hain and Chino Arab Humara - Phir Subah Hogi (1958). This combination of political awareness and humanitarian compassion is found all through in Sahir's poetry, whether written for films or not.

Ever a sensitive soul, Sahir reacted to the world around him, pouring his sentiments into the songs he penned for films. Coming from his pen, even the most mundane would have a message. For example, this song from Neelkamal: Khali Dabba Khali Botal Le Le Mere Yaar Khali se Mat Nafrat Karna, Khali Sab Sansar. His poetry could at once be sublime - Tora Man Darpan Ehlaye Bhale Bure Sare Karmo ko Dekhe Aur Dikhaye from Kajal (1965), introspective - Man Re Tu Kahe Na Dheer Dhare from Chitralekha(1964), invoking - Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam Sabko Sanmati de Bhagwan from Hum Dono, esoteric - Khuda-e-Bartar Teri Zameen Par Zameen ki Khatir Jung Kyon Hai from Taj Mahal, and philosophical - Jahan Mein Aisa Kaun Hai Ki Jisko Gham Mila Nahin again from Hum Dono. There lay Sahir's spirituality. Ingrained in this spirituality was a quest for a greater humanity, better people, a livable world. Paradoxically, it always involved, and was about, the material rather than the metaphysical.

A colossus among song writers, Sahir fought for, and became the first film lyricist to get, royalty from music companies. He would deeply involve himself in the setting of tunes for his songs. Any wonder why they are extra melodious? There was a negative trait too: Sahir would insist he be paid a rupee more for each song than Lata Mangeshkar was. Call it a left-over of his zamindar background, or an example of success gone to the head, this egotism of Sahir has been heard of and written about.

A bachelor to the end, Sahir fell in love with writer Amrita Pritam and singer Sudha Malhotra, relationships that never fructified in the conventional sense and left him sad. Ironically, the two ladies' fathers wouldn't accept Sahir, an atheist, because of his perceived religion. Had they seen the iconoclast in him, that would have been worse; being an atheist was worse than belonging to the 'other' religion. Sahir, perhaps, had an answer to such artificial barriers in these lines written for Naya Raasta (1970):

Nafraton ke jahan mein humko pyaar ki bastiyaan basaani hain
Door rehna koi kamaal nahin, paas aao to koi baat bane

A young Amrita Pritam, madly in love with Sahir, wrote his name hundreds of times on a sheet of paper while addressing a press conference. They would meet without exchanging a word, Sahir would puff away; after Sahir's departure, Amrita would smoke the cigarette butts left behind by him. After his death, Amrita said she hoped the air mixed with the smoke of the butts would travel to the other world and meet Sahir! Such was their obsession and intensity.

Over two decades after his death, Sahir's songs remain immensely popular. His poetry continues to inspire radical groups and individuals and strikes a chord in sensitive people, leftist or not. Why else would a Vajpayee invoke Sahir while taking a dig at Pakistan?

Woh waqt gaya woh daur gaya jab do qaumon ka naara tha
Woh log gaye is dharti se jinka maqsad batwaara tha

Sahir died after a heart attack he suffered while playing cards. One suspects the poet, whose heart bled for others, never paid enough attention to his own life. There was a card-player nonchalance about himself, as seen in this Hum Dono song:

Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya
Har fikr ko dhuwein me udata chala gaya

Had Sahir (whose 22nd death anniversary falls on October 25) not allowed drink and cigarette smoke to consume himself, had he lived a fuller life like contemporaries Majrooh Sultanpuri and Kaifi Azmi did, it would have been interesting to watch him react to changing social values, to politics touching its nadir, to 'secular' becoming a dirty word, to the abuse of religion to spread hatred and get votes, to the supposed failure of communism, to the never-ending dowry deaths, to the intellectual inertia of the intelligentsia.... Perhaps he would have influenced thought as he did in the past. Maybe his message to the masses would have been the same as it was decades ago:

Tumse Quwwat Lekar, Main Tumko Raah Dikhaoonga
Tum Parcham Lehrana Saathi, Main Barbat par Gaoonga.
Aaj se Mere Phan ka Maksad Zanjeere Pighlana Hai
Aaj se Main Shabnam ke Badle Angaare Barsaoonga.

(Drawing from your strength, I shall show you the way
You wave the flag, comrades, I shall sing for you
My art will now melt your chains
From now on my poetry will rain embers)

Contributed by Arti Koyal (http://www.upperstall.com/people/sahir.html)
Composed by Azgar Khan

Click to view attachment
Memorable Films

Naujawan (1951)
Baazi (1951)
Jaal (1952)
Taxi Driver (1954)
House Number 44 (1955)
Munimji (1955)
Devdas (1955)
Railway Platform (1955)
Naya Daur (1957)
Pyaasa (1957)
Sadhana (1958)
Phir Subah Hogi (1958)
Sone ki Chidiya (1958)
Dhool ka Phool (1959)
Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)
Hum Dono (1961)
Gumrah (1963)
Taj Mahal (1963)
Dil Hi to Hai (1963)
Aaj Aur Kal (1963)
Waqt (1965)
Kajal (1965)
Bahu Begum (1967)
Humraah (1967)
Neel Kamal (1968)
Daag (1973)
Deewaar (1975)
Kabhi Kabhie (1976)
Trishul (1978)
Kala Patthar (1979)

However good he might be... he is no Shakeel!

Sahir is for me what Shakeel is for you

All Im gonna say to on this is "Do Badan". Dont even bother comin out a reply

Hate to take YM's side (again) ... but I agree.

Lol@hate to take his side!

Imran boss how are ya? Long time!

[

Azgarkhan saahab,

absolutely beutiful, great song writer and a great article

thank you

regards
Keshav

Azgarbhai,
what poem or song are the words
"Woh waqt gaya woh daur gaya jab do qaumon ka naara tha
Woh log gaye is dharti se jinka maqsad batwaara tha" from?
Laique

Please upload HUM DONO and AAJ AUR KAL.

Reviving my requests!

You need the entire movie songs?

Yes, Asghar! Please.........

Can you request this in some other thread, since this thread is for Biography and discussions about the legend.

As per your suggession, I've put up my request at the following thread:
http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...87&#entry230487

Please upload!

Sahir Ludhianvi

Khuda-e-bartar teri zameen par
Zameen ki khaatir ye jung kyun hai
Har ek khat ho zafar ke daaman
Pe khoon-e-insaan ka rang kyun hai

Zameen bhi teri, hai hum bhi tere
ye milkiyat ka sawaal kya hai
Ye qatl-o-khoon ka riwaaj kyun hai
Ye rasm-e-jung-o-jadaal kya hai
Jinhe talab hai jahan bhar ki
Unhi ka dil itna tangg kyun hai

Ghareeb maon shareef behnon
Ko amn-o-izzat ki zindagi de
Jinhe ataa ki hai toone taaqat
Unhe hidayat ki roshni de
Sarron mein kibr-o-ghuroor kyun hai
Dilon ke sheeshe pe zang kyun hai

Kazaa ke raste pe jaane waalo
Ko bachke aane ki raah dena
Dilon ke gulshan ujad na jaye
Mohabbaton ko panaah dena
Jahan mein jashn-e-wafa ke badle
Ye jashn-e-teer-o-tafang kyun hai

Khuda-e-bartar teri zameen par
Zameen ki khaatir ye jung kyun hai
Har ek khat ho zafar ke daaman
Pe khoon-e-insaan ka rang kyun hai

Sahir Ludhianvi was only 23 when, in 1943, he published his first book Talkhiyan, arguably the best-selling work of Urdu poetry after the Deewaan-e-Ghalib.

Most of us know of Sahir as a successful lyricist for the Bombay film industry. His songs could be dark and melancholy (Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai), or playful (Hum aap ki aankhon mein, iss dil ko basaa de to), or even full of charming buffoonery (Sar jo tera chakraaye, ya dil dooba jaaye, aaja pyare paas hamaare, kaahe ghabraae, kaahe ghabraae). It is Sahir, and others like him, who has kept Urdu alive in popular Indian culture through the medium of the film song.

But there is also another Sahir. One who has not circulated as widely among the masses. And this is tragic, because it is the ordinary people and their struggles that provided his poetry its breath of life.

In the years before 1947, Sahir lived in Lahore, editing a number of journals, including a fortnightly called Savera. In 1949, he was forced to flee. His critical articles had roused the ire of the Pakistani state, and an arrest warrant was issued in his name. Long before his hurried departure from the new nation, Sahir had asked: Chalo us kufr ke ghar se salaamat aa gaye lekin / Khuda ki mamlekat mein sokhta khaanon pe kya guzri (Thank God we arrived safe from the land of infidels; / But in God's own kingdom, what happened to the broken-hearted?).

In Bombay, the Sahir mystique was quick to take hold. His songs, lent voice by the best singers in the industry, would sail out from radio sets in shops and the open windows of homes in towns and cities all over the nation.

Little is known of Sahir's non-filmi work though. This was partly because Sahir rarely published his works. All of it, however, was powerful poetry. In 1956, for instance, Sahir wrote his long poem Parchaiyan (Silhouettes). A tribute to lost love, it was also a powerful antiwar manifesto. This mix of poetry and politics was Sahir's hallmark.

Sahir was a member of the Progressive Writers Association (PWA). But, we might ask, what did this mean in terms of his poetry.

The trend with poets had been to ascribe mystical origins to their work. For example, Ghalib had written: Aate hain ghaib se ye mazaameen khayaal mein / Ghalib, sareer e khaama, nawaa e sarosh hai (These ideas come to me from the void / Ghalib, the scratching of pen on paper is the flutter of angels' wings).

Sahir was not one for such airy metaphysics. His poetry, quite emphatically, had material roots. And so, on the frontispiece of his book "Talkhiyan" (Bitter Words), we read the following verse: Duniya ne tajrubaat o hawaadis ki shakl mein / Jo kuch mujhe diya hai, wo lauta rahaa hoon main (What the world, in the form of experiences and accidents / Bestowed upon me, I am returning).

Sahir's poetry was a departure from the classical traditional of Urdu poetry or the funoon-e-lateefa (the delicate arts). He wanted his poems to walk among the people, and that is why they seem to have the dust of the common roads on them.

Sahir was aware that such a radical departure invited dismissal from the pure aesthetes. This did not overly trouble him; he had only contempt for those who wanted anything different of his works. His aesthetic manifesto was delivered in these ringing words: Mujh ko is ka ranj nahin hai, log mujhe fankaar na manein / Fikr o sukhan ke taajir mere sheron ko ash-aar na manein (I do not regret that people do not consider me an artist / That the traders of thought and words do not consider my poems poetic).

To call a critic a crass trader is a time-honoured practice among Leftist poets. It continues to this day. Javed Akhtar, for instance, has unfurled his own banner in the following verse: Jaanta hoon main tum ko, zauq e shaairi bhi hai / Shaqsiyat sajaane mein, ek ye maahiri bhi hai / Phir bhi harf chunte ho, sirf lafz sunte ho / Un ke darmiyaan kya hai, tum na jaan paaoge (I know you appreciate poetry / After all, it is a personality-building skill / But you just pluck letters, hear words / What lies between them, you shopkeepers will never know).

But, there is a profound difference between a proclamation like Akhtar's, and the one by Sahir. And it lies in the fact that Sahir actually used his poetry to explain why he consciously repudiated the dominant forms of Urdu poetry - and his words carried a stinging awareness of why he himself would, in turn, be rejected by those who defended the status quo.

Sahir's triumph, of course, is that his finest poetry is as fine-grained as the ghazals of Ghalib and Meer, as lyrical as Faiz's nazms, and as inflected with philosophy as musadddas by Hali or Iqbal. Such poetry is a repudiation of all worn-out arguments against progressive, politically-inflected writing. However, despite the fact that Sahir's poems are hummed on the streets, his songs are keeping an idiom alive, and his non-film poetry is sold out, Sahir has received little critical attention, especially in commentaries written in English.

In his famous analysis of Urdu literature, Mohammed Sadiq, after a chapter on Ghalib, Iqbal, and even Akbar Ilahabadi, dismisses Sahir in one paragraph. It is true that several Urdu journals have devoted special issues to Sahir's work, and Urdu critics like Intizar Husain have lauded him as a literary giant. Indeed, his songs continue to inspire many Urdu writers. But, there is no critical appreciation of his work in English. Barring a critical and empathic analysis by Carlo Coppola, most of Sahir's critics in English dismiss him as a pamphleteer or an ideologue. In the narrow world of Urdu criticism in English, there appears to be an implicit agreement that the works of PWA writers, while they may be lauded as devices of public organising, are aesthetically inferior, and even harmful to Urdu poetry's classical traditions.

Why have these progressives been given such short shrift?

I believe that their fate is not unique to Urdu writers. It is not unusual for the defenders of the canon in any field of literature to be wary of aesthetic experiments, and to regard the outcome of such experiments as aesthetic failure.

Thus, in the present literature on Urdu poetry, poets like Sahir Ludhianvi remain forgotten, very much like the workers who built the Taj Mahal, about whom he wrote with such indelible passion: Meri mehboob, unhe bhi to mohabbat hogi / Jin ki sannaa'i ne bakhshi hai ise shakl e jameel / Unke pyaaron ke maqaabir rahe be naam-o-numood / Aaj tak un pe jalaai na kisi ne qandeel (My love, they too must have loved / Whose craft has given the Taj its beautiful visage / Their loved ones lie in unmarked graves / Where no one even lights a candle).

At this point in history, though, Sahir's touching appeals against war are strongly brought to mind. In 1956, following the Suez Canal crisis, he wrote Parchaiyan, which focused on the domestic fallout of war.

Us shaam mujhe maaloom hua, kheton ki tarah is duniya mein
Sahmi hui doshezaaon ki muskaan bhi bechi jaati hai
Us shaam mujhe maaloom hua, is kaargah e zardaari mein
Do bholi bhaali roohon ki pehchaan bhi bechi jaati hai

On that evening, I learned that in this world, like fields
The smiles on the nervous faces of beauties are also traded
On that evening, I learned that in the marketplace of capital
The intimacy of two innocent souls is also traded.

… Guzishta jang mein ghar hi jale, magar is baar
Ajab nahin, ke ye tanhaaiyaan bhi jal jaayen
Guzishta jang mein paikar jale, magar is baar
Ajab nahin, ke ye parchaiyan bhi jal jaayen

In the last war, homes were burned, but this time
Even the loneliness may burn away
In the last war, only bodies burned, but this time
Even the silhouettes may burn away

(Raza Mir teaches at Monmouth University, New Jersey and helps edit the magazine SAMAR.)

Sahir wrote Jashn-e-Ghalib (Ghalib's Celebration) after the Indian government suddenly decided to mark the 100th anniversary of Ghalib's death in 1968. There could be no more scathing critique of the treatment meted out to Urdu by the bureaucratic policies in India:

Jin shehron mein goonji thhi, Ghalib ki navaa barson
Un shehron mein aaj Urdu, benaam-o-nashaan thehri
Aazaadi-e-kaamil ka elaan huaa jis din,
Maatoob zabaan thehri, ghaddar zabaan thehri

Jis ahd-e-siyaasat ne ye zinda zubaan kuchli
Us ahd-e-siyaasat ko marhoomon ka gham kyon hai
Ghalib jise kehte hain, Urdu hi ka shaayar thha
Urdu pe sitam dhha kar, Ghalib pe karam kyon hai

In those cities, where Ghalib's voice echoed for years
In those very cities now, there is no trace of Urdu
The day we announced our independence
It became an oppressed language, a traitor language

The political will that crushed this living tongue
Why does that very politic mourn Urdu's dead
The one who you call Ghalib, he was a poet of urdu
Why bury Urdu and then praise Ghalib?

This song, "Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Wo Kahan Hai" is the simplified version of Sahir's 'Chakley'. The song was written for the movie 'Pyaasa', starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha. The music was given by S.D. Burman and the song was sung by Mohammed Rafi. The major difference, if you will compare this with the original nazm 'Chakley' is that this version was a simpler version, modified version of 'Chakley' for the masses. Sahir accomplished this masterfully by replacing 'sanaa-Khwaan-e-taqdees-e-mashriq kahaaN haiN' to 'jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahaaN haiN'.

Ye kooche ye nilaam ghar dilkashi ke
Ye lut-te huwe karvaan zindagi ke
Kahan hai, kahan hai muhafiz khudi ke
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Ye purpaich galiyan, ye badnaam bazaar
Ye gumnaam raahi, ye sikkon ki jhankaar
Ye ismat ke sauday, ye saudon pe taqraar
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Ye sadiyon se be-khauf sehmi si galiyaan
Ye masli hui adh-khili zard kaliyaan
Ye bikti hui khokli rang-raliyaan
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Wo ujle darichon mein payal ki chann chann
Thaki haari saanson pe tablay ki dhan dhan
Ye be-rooh kamron mein khaansi ki than than
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Ye phoolon ke gajre, ye peekon ke cheentay
Ye be-baak nazrein, ye gustaakh fitrein
Ye dhalke badan, aur ye beemar chehre
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Yahan peer bhi aa chuke hain, jawaan bhi
Tan-o-mand bete bhi, abba miya bhi
Ye biwi bhi hai, aur bahen bhi hai Maa bhi
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Madad chaahti hai ye Hawwa ki beti
Yashoda ki hum-jins, Radha ki beti
Payambar ki ummath, Zulekha ki beti
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Zara mulk ke rehbaron ko bulao
Ye kooche ye galiyaan ye manzar dikhao
Jinhe naaz hai hind par unko lao
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wo kahan hai
Kahan hai, kahan hai, kahan hai

Glossary:
Kooche = Streets
Nilaam Ghar = Auction Houses
Muhaafiz Khudi ke = the protectors of pride
Ismat = pride, honour
Takraar = fights, arguments
Zard = yellowing
Be-rooh = soul-less
Peer = old, wise
Tan-o-mand = healthy, fit
Hum-jins = breed
Payambar = prophet
Ummat = race
Rehbaron = leaders

Thankyou all...for such a wonderful insight into the poet and his works..got no words to explain the efforts you all have put in...if i delve in this corridors, i will definitely pick up the finer nuances of Urdu...i am sure. :-)
With all humility, i would say that no two persons can be compared...ever. It is for us, to enjoy what we like at our own pace. :-)

All my love and respect goes to Sahir ji..

Thanks Azgarbhai sahib.. Irshad..farmayiye..

( thanks to Apritam ji)

and btw.. who is shaqil ppl talking about? chota shaquil? I never heard he is/was poet also?

Hi Krish,
Agar aap Shakeel ko chhota kar ke Sahir ko bada saabit karna chahte hain to behad galat kar rahen hain.
Shakeel Badayuni,Majrooh Sultanpuri,Prem Dhavan,Shailendra aur Kaifi Azami ye saare log ek hi raah ke humsafar the.Ye saare lyricist zindagi bhar Progressive Writers Association se jude rahe. Mujhe hairat hai ki Kaifi Azami ka Forum gayab ho gaya hai.

No sir.. it was just a simple Joke.. But truth is I rate Shair Way above others.. IMHO...I have yet to see SB's shayari to the level of SL, Pyasa.. Kabhi Kabhi.. and some non filmi are mind blowing from SL.. SB i am not sure.. was a good poet, like others, Shailendra is over rated to me as well..

Well its all in ones own perception.. so, joking was not to push SL up above SB at all I am no body to do it.. and SL does not require that push even. He is already high up there..

Cant believe people dont know Shakeel Badayuni, one of the greatest Indian poets who penned songs for Mother India, Moghul-e-azam, Ganga Jamuna, Mere Mehboob, Chaudhvin ka chand, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam to name a few.