( Akhtar ul Imaan )
AKHTAR UL IMAAN …(1915-1995 ) ……….“YEH LADKAA POOCHHTA HAI AKHTAR UL IMAAN TUM HI HO ?”
In an Interview Akhtar ul Imaan once said :
“ My ancestors were Surajvanshi Rajputs from Raokhedi . It was sometime during 1857 that our ancestor Ram Singh embraced Islam . "
He did not bring his poetry to films and never his scripts and stories to his poetry. For him poetry remained an art while story and dialogue writing for films a profession. He wrote scripts/ dialogues for films like Do Badan, Mera Saaya , Daag ( 1973 ), Phool Aur Pathar ( 1966 ) , Waqt ( 1965 ) Dharamputra ( 1961 ) . Gumraah ( 1963 ), Roti ( 1974 ), Pathar Ke Sanam ( 1967 ) and many more movies that proved quite successful at the box office.
“Chinoy Seth, jinke ghar sheeshe ke hon woh doosron par patthar nahin phenka karte”
(Chinoy Seth, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others )
This signature dialogue picturised on actor Raj Kumar was written By Akhtar ul Imaan for Waqt , a film that broke all previous records at the box office.
He was well educated ( post graduate ) and had profound knowledge of world literature . His life took many turns . As child , he lived in an orphanage but never abandoned his education .Akhtar ul Imaan started his film career from Shalimar Studio, Pune ( owned by W Z Ahmed ) as story writer on a monthly salary of Rs150/= in 1947. And in June 1947 , the studio was closed due to partition riots and he had to move to Bombay. He had already performed Nikah ceremony with Sultana who belonged to a well off family from Delhi. Krishen Chander , Ramanand Sagar and Bharat Vyas also moved to Bombay after June 1947.He took up a residence at Turner Road .
During this period , poet Meeraji was roaming in Bombay like a wretched fellow. Meeraji shared a room with Madhusudan , a friend of Akhtar ul Imaan who lived at Kalaghoda, later Meeraji moved to live with Mohan Sehgal and finally shifted to a stable at Byculla. He was broke and ill. It was Akhtar ul Imaan who stepped in and brought him to his home and engaged him by starting a monthly magazine ‘Khayal’ .Meeraji died in 1949. Some work here and there , Akhtar ul Imaan finally moved to ‘Story Department ‘ of Filmistan while simultaneously writing scripts for Kamal Amrohi , M Sadiq , S M Yusuf and Kabir Ahmed. He wrote Nastik and Anarkali but no credit was given to him. In 1956 , he launched his own film company . This too did not solve his financial crisis. In 1958 ( he remained there till 1975 ), he Joined ‘Story Department’ of B R Films on a monthly salary of rupees twelve hundred . It was only after the release of films like Kanoon , Mughal e Azam ( he was a co writer ) and Waqt that his luck took a swift and favourable turn.Offers for dialogue writing and scripts poured in and he started charging good amount for his services . By now he was a father of three daughters Shehla, Asma and Rakshanda and a son Ramish whom he fondly called Guddu. He ensured their good schooling and as father , got deeply attached to them and their welfare.
The poet suffered major financial crisis after he ventured into film making in 1979.With Jaimal Singh as partner, Akhtar ul Iman produced a movie” Lahu Pukaarega” . He wrote the script and also directed it. From the editing room , the negatives were whisked away by Jaimal Singh who released the film on his own . But then radical changes were allready sweeping Indian Film Industry post 1970. New faces , new film makers ,newer concepts and new challenges had arrived . New equations were visible in the film world . Film making passed on to people who just wanted to make quick buck . He spurned many offers to write Masala scripts that lacked social purpose . He did not go well with Yash Chopra also .
After “Bikhare Moti” ,he never ever wrote a song for films . When his friend Giri Lal Jain , Editor , Times of India requested him to write a song for his daughter’s wedding , Akhtar ul Iman politely refused .He would always say :-
“ Poetry comes from somewhere deep within . You can not write for an externally created situation . That is not poetry . It is heartless as it does not move through your heart. ”
After he parted company with B R Chopra , he had only five assignments in 13 years ( from 1975 to 1988 including his own film Lahu Pukaarega ) .He had almost no work in films .This was followed by his heart surgery in 1986. It was his son in law and actor Amjad Khan ( Gabbar Singh of Sholay ) who came to his rescue. He did all arrangements and booked tickets of Mrs Sultana ( his wife ) Dr Ashok Hitolkar ( his family physician ) and Akhtar ul Imaan for the US apart from paying advance amount to St. Luke’s Hospital ,Texas . He stayed there for about a month and returned to India with pending bills to the extent of 26000 US dollors. To his son in law , he told that all bills had been settled . Again some close friends raised a substantial amount from BCCI, Hamdard Foundation and other charitable institutions of Mumbai. Amjad Khan’s death in 1992 came as a great shock to the poet.
Dr Ashok operated him again for a painful Fistula where after he got his Kidney problems that needed regular dialysis .He also sold his spacious Bandra flat for 30 lakhs and shifted to a two room small flat on ground floor of Ravi Darshan ( A 3) . Shamas ur Rehman Farooqi’s intervention and Ashok Vajpayee’s help brought a monthly stipend of Rs5000 for two years to him. The expenditure on dialysis alone was Rs 6000 per month. His wife stood like a rock to support him . He was on regular dialysis since 1994 and breathed his last on 9th March 1996.Dr Ashok Hitolkar ( from Nanavati Hospital ) was at his bedside at that last moment.
I need to say something about his poetry as well…
Though he carries his own style , language and content , his work also bears influence of two well known urdu poets namley Noom Meem Rashid and Meeraji .An integral part of Akhtar Ul Imaan’s poetry is its intensity , suggestiveness and philosophical style . Akhtar ul Imaan has the capacity to bring his reader to a spot that is in between a dream and the reality .His Nazms project a deep and profound humanism. His thought is emancipated .It is free from religion , history and political commitments . I quote …
(1)
(Tabdeeli )
“Iss Bhare Shahar mein Koyee Aissa Nahin
Jo Mujhe Raah Chaltay Ko Pehchaan Le
Aur Awaaz Dhe “O Bey! O Sar Phiray!”
Donon Ek Doosray se Lipat kar Vaheen
Gird o Pesh aur Maahaul Ko Bhool Kar
Gaaliyan Dhein Hansein Haathha Paayi Karein
Paas Ke Peid ki Chhaanv Mein Baith Kar
Ghanton Eik Doosaray ki sunein Aur kahein
Aur Iss Nek Roohon Ke Bazaar mein
Meri Yeh Qeemati Be -baha Zindagi
Eik Din Ke liye Apnaa Rukh mod le”
( Change )
(On the pathways of this teeming city ,
There is none to recognise a traveller like me .,
And then cry, “ so here you are ! my reckless friend !”
And then and there ,
We embrace each other ,
Forgetting who is around or in our surroundings ,
Start abusing each other ,
Engage in a brawl and smile together ,
Sitting under the shade of the near by tree,
Keep listening and speaking to each other,
for hours and hours .
And then in this marketplace of virtuous lives ,
This precious and priceless life of mine ,
May take a new turn and change direction ,
Just for a day only.)
(2)
“Tum se berangi-e-hasti kaa gilaa karanaa thhaa
Dil pe Anbaar hai Khuun-gashtaa tamannaaon kaa
Aaj Toote huve taaron kaa Khayaal aayaa hai
Eik melaa hai pareshaan si ummeedon kaa
Chand Paz-murdaa bahaaron kaa Khayaal aayaa hai
Paanv thhak thhak ke rah jaate hain maayusi mein
Pur-mahan Raah-guzaaron kaa Khayaal aayaa hai
Saaqi-o-baadaa nahin jaam-o-lab-e-juu bhi nahin
Tum se kahanaa thhaa ki ab aankh mein aansu bhi nahin”
(3)
“Loghaat alfaaz ka ek deir hai lafzon pe mat jaana
Naya aahang hota hai Morattab Lafz o maani ka
Meray haq mein abhi kuchh faisalaa sadir na farmaana
Me jis din aaoonga taaza Loghaat hamraah laaoonga”
(The dictionary is nothing but a pile of words
Be careful and discreet as a fresh plan is in the offing
To describe everything anew .
Pray, Don’t pass any judgment at the instant
The day I come my lord,
I shall bring along with me the new glossary )
(4)
( Ittefaq )
“Dayaar-e-Gair main koyee jahaan na apana ho
shadeed karb ki gharriyan guzar chukane par
kuchh ittefaq ho aisa ki ek sham kahin
kissi ek aissi jagah se ho yun hi mera guzar
Jahaan Hujum e Gurezaan mein Tum Nazar aao
Aur Eik Eik Ko Hairat Se Dekhtaa Reh Jaaye ”
(In a foreign land ,
Where none is your own,
After spending some intensely anguished moments ,
And by sheer coincidence ,
one evening it so happens ,
While walking casually through a place ,
Where , among the passing crowds ,
I happen to see you ,
And then In total bewilderment ,
Each of us keeps looking at the other.)
After reading his poems , I found that the poet in him is ever in search of a new mode of expression. There is a tone of genuine anguish and sorrow in his poetry . A sorrow that is fundamentally linked to internal demands of every human being set against innumerable external influences arising out of existence .It appears that he himself has been a student all along his creative endeavours indulging in self analysis and self criticism with extraordinary aloofness . For this I suggest every reader to read his poem “Ek Ladka “ . “Ek Ladaka” is a poem about all of us .The structure of the poem is sarcastic and spectacular. A boy within him keeps trailing the poet . This boy peeps into the contradictions of his tall thinking and small actions . The reader feels a sense of loss and passing time in this poem. I add some lines from this great poem …
“Anaasir muntashir ho jaane nabzein doob Jaane tak
Navaa e subh ho ya naala e shab kuchh bhi gaana hai
Zafar mandon ke aage rizk ki tahsil ki Khaatir
Kabhi apna hi nagma unn Ka keh kar muskaraana hai
Sahar Ki aarzo mein Shab ka daaman thhaamta huun Jab
Yeh ladkaa poochhta hai Akhtar Ul Imaan tum hi Ho “
Akhtar Ul Imaan has published seven collections:
Tareek Sayaara (1943)
Gardyab (1946)
Aabjoo (1959)
Yadein ( The book won him a Sahitya Academy Award in 1962 )
Bint-e-Lamhaat (1969)
Naya Ahang (1977)
Sar-o-Samaan (1983)
In an interview to Ghulam Rizvi “Gardish “ , he once said :
“The concept of time in my poetry is so felt as if it is a part of my “Being”and goes hand in gloves with me in my creations. This concept is neither of Maaya nor of Mortality . It is such a living and ever pervading being which is infinite. Had it not been time, it would have been something greater than God because due to its presence even the form and concept of God ever goes on changing. Our entire poetic process bears the stamp of the same stereotyped language whereas everything has gone through a sea change. Ironically , whatsoever is left out is nothing but slogan mongering of thr lover and the beloved. I have tried to save myself from this heresy and kept the diction as anti romantic , rough and rugged.”
About Akhtar ul Imaan , Dr Gopi Chand Narang writes this :-
“A facet of his writing can be compared to R.K. Laxman's ‘common man' who observes all that is wrong around him, all that is commercialised, and the erosion of human values. While Imaan did refer to and appreciate revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, he was not among the activists. He used the power of his pen. He was recognised by the Urdu community only after he was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Award for Yaadein. It was only after the award that everyone started reading him, and his name was taken with the likes of Meeraji and N M Rashid. He was fiercely independent. Iman's writing was multifaceted. While, on the one hand, his poetry reflected a sense of longing for human values, relationships and innocence that a migrant would feel in a metropolis like Mumbai (Imaan himself migrated to Bombay from Uttar Pradesh), it also dealt with weighty socio-political issues such as corruption, poverty and injustice.”
I end this post with his popular Nazm ‘Be’ Talauqi’ with my simple English rendering..
(Be’ Talauqi )
"Shaam hotii hai sahar hotii hai ye waqt-e-ravaan
Jo kabhi meray sar pe sang e garaan ban ke giraa
Raah mein aayaa kabhii merii himaalaa ban kar
Jo kabh i ukdaa banaa aisaa ki hal hi na huaa
Ashq ban kar merii Aakhon se kabhi Tapakaa hai
Jo kabhi Khoon-e-jigar ban ke mizshgaan par Aayaa
Aaj bevaastaa yuun guzaraa chalaa jaataa hai
Jaisay me kashmakash-e-zeest mein shaamil hi nahin"
( Dissociation )
(Evenings keep visiting me ,
Mornings too continue to arrive ,
This fleeting time ,
That fell on my head like a boulder ,
Sometimes stood in my path like the mighty Himalaya ,
Sometimes twirled itself into a riddle that could not be resolved,
Sometimes dropped from my eyes as tears ,
Sometimes , like my poor heart’ s blood ,
Appeared upon my eyelashes ;
Today , totally unconcerned ,
This time moves past me ,
As if I don’t belong to the crowds
Struggling for existence .)
Rest in peace Akhtar ul Imaan ……………
( Avtar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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