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
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