Kaifi Azmi (Hindi: कैफ़ी आज़मी; Urdu: کیفی اعظمی; January 14, 1919 – May 10, 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is considered to be one of the greatest Urdu poets of 20th century. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jon Elia and others he participated in the most memorable mushairas of the twentieth century.
Early life
Azmi was born in the
village of Mizwaa(n) in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Family
Azmi was married to Shaukhat
Azmi. They have a daughter, Shabana Azmi (An Indian Actress of film,
television and theatre) and a son, Baba Azmi (Indian Cinematographer).
Career
Writings
At age eleven, Azmi
wrote his first ghazal Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade and
somehow managed to get himself invited to a mushaira and over there, he recited a ghazal,
rather a couplet of the ghazal which was very much appreciated by the president
of the mushaira, Mani
Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thought he recited his
elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his
clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a
couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi
accepted the challenge and completed a ghazal. This particular ghazal was to
become a rage in undivided India and it was immortalized as it was sung by
legendary ghazal singer, Begum
Akhtar.
Azmi abandoned his
studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India
agitations in 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full-time Marxist when he
accepted membership of the Communist Party of India in 1943.
During this period,
the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very impressed
by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended
all possible encouragement towards him. Consequently, Azmi started to win great
acclaim as a poet and became a member of Progressive Writers' Movement
of India.
At the age of
twenty-four, he started activities in the textile mill areas of Kanpur. As a full-time worker, he left his life of
comfort, though he was the son of a zamindar. He was asked to shift his base to
Bombay, work amongst
the workers and start party work with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm and at the
same time would attend mushairas in different parts of India. In Bombay, he
joined Ali Sardar
Jafri in writing for the party’s paper, Qaumi Jung.
In 1947, he visited Hyderabad to participate in a mushaira. There
he met, fell in love with and married a woman named Shaukat Azmi. She later
became a renowned actress in theatre and films. They had two children together,
Shabana Azmi (b. 1950), a
renowned actress of Indian cinema and Baba Azmi, a noted cameraman.
Poetry
Like most of the Urdu
poets, Azmi began as a ghazal writer, cramming his poetry with the repeated
themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichés and
metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement
and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious
poetry.
In his poetry, he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and
through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by
dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda.
It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, and the spirit of
sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society, are the
hallmark of his poetry. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in
this respect, his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated.
Azmi's first
collection of poems, Jhankar was published in 1943. His important works
including anthologies of poetry, were Aakhir-e-Shab, Sarmaya,
Awaara Sajde, Kaifiyaat, Nai Gulistan, an anthology of
articles he wrote for Urdu Blitz, Meri Awaaz Suno, a selection of
his film lyrics, and the script of Heer Ranjha in Devanagari.
His best known poems are Aurat,
Makaan,Daaera,Saanp, and Bahuroopni.
Films
Azmi's work in films
includes working as a lyricist, writer and actor. Azmi wrote his first lyrics
for the film Buzdil,
directed by Shaheed
Latif, in 1952. His early work as a writer was mainly for Nanubhai
Vakil's films like Yahudi Ki Beti (1956), Parvin (1957),
Miss Punjab Mail (1958) and Id Ka Chand (1958).
While directors like
Khwaja Ahmad
Abbas and Bimal Roy strove
to create the “New Cinema”, writers like Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Majrooh
Sultanpuri, and Kaifi changed the tenor and vocabulary of the Hindi film
song, creating a fresh new wave in Hindi film lyrics that lasted many years.
His greatest feat as a
writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Raanjha (1970) wherein the entire
dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of
the greatest feats of Hindi film writing. Azmi also won great critical accolades
for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1973), based on a
story by Ismat
Chughtai. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) and Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama
(1977).
As a lyricist and
songwriter, though he wrote for numerous films, he will always be remembered for
Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool
(1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest war film. Some
notables films for which he wrote lyrics include Kohra (1964), Anupama
(1966), Uski
Kahani (1966), Saat
Hindustani (1969), Shola Aur Shabnam, Parwana
(1971), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Arth (1982) and Razia
Sultan (1983). He also played a memorable role of Naseem's grandfather
in Naseem (1995).
Azmi died on May 10, 2002 at around the age of eighty three. He was survived
by his wife, daughter and son.His autobiography is included in a collection of his works, Aaj Ke Prashid Shayar: Kaifi Azmi.
In media
Azmi was the subject
of a documentary film called Kaifi Azmi (1979), directed by Raman
Kumar. In 1997, he recited his own poems for Kaifiyaat, an audio book
on his collected works.
Kaifi Aur Mein,
a play based on his life, his works and the memoir of his wife, Shaukat
Azmi – Yadon Ki Rahguzar (Down Memory Lane), was written and
performed by Javed Akhtar
and Shabana Azmi, and
performed in India as well as abroad in 2006. Another play, directed by Rani Balbir, Waqt Ne
Kiya Kya Hasin Sitam, based Kaifi Azmi’s life and writings was staged in
2005, and received rave reviews.
Awards
He was the recipient
of Padma Shri one of the
Indian Government's highest civilian awards. Besides he was awarded the Uttar
Pradesh Urdu
Academy Award and the Sahitya Akademi
Award for Urdu for his collection Awaara Sajde, Special Award of
Maharashtra Urdu Academy, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Lotus Award from the
Afro-Asian Writers' Association, and President’s Award for national integration.
In 1998, Government of Maharashtra conferred
the Jyaneshwara Award on him. He was also honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for
lifetime achievement.
In 2000, he was
conferred the first Millennium Award by the Government of Delhi and the Delhi
Urdu Academy. He has also been honoured with a doctorate from Vishva
Bharati University, Santiniketan.
Sahitya Akademi Award
- 1975: Sahitya Akademi Award: Awara Sajde
- 2002: Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (Immortals of Literature)
National Film Awards
- 1970: National Film Award for Best Lyrics: Saat Hindustani
Filmfare Awards
- 1975:Filmfare Best Dialogue Award: Garam Hawa
- 1975:Filmfare Best Screenplay Award: Garam Hawa (with Shama Zaidi)
- 1975:Filmfare Best Story Award: Garam Hawa (with Ismat Chughtai)
Famous verses
- Aaj ki raat bahut garam hawa chalti hai
Hum sub uthen, main bhi uthun, tum bhi utho
Koi khidki isi deewar mein khul jayegi
- Makaan
- Tu jo bejaan khilonon se behel jaati hai
Paaon jis raah mein rakhti hai fisal jaati hai
Banke seemaab har ik zarf mein dhal jaati hai
Zist ke aahni saanche main dhalna hai tujhe
uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe…
– Aurat (Woman)
- Waqt Ni Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam
Tum rahe na tum,Hum
Rahe na Hum.
- Film Kaagaz Ke Phool 1959
- Film Kaagaz Ke Phool 1959
- Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho
Kya gum hai jisko
Chupa rahe Ho.
- Film Arth (1982)
- Film Arth (1982)
Meri khwabo ko tum asko me dubote keu ho?
Jo meri tarha jia karte hai kab marte hai
Thak gaya hu mujhe solene do rote keu ho?
Soke bhi jagte rahte hai janbaz suno.
keu sazai ho chandan ke chita mere liey
mai koi jism nahi jalao ge mujhe
rakh ke saath bikhar jaunga dunia me
thokar jahan khaogey waha paogey mujhe
Select bibliography
- Kaifi Azmi- Fan Aur Shaqsiyat (Urdu), Mayar Publications, 2004.
- Kaifiyaat:Kulliyat-e-Kaifi Azmi(URDU)), Educational Publishing House,2003.ISBN 8187667788.
- Zehr-e-Ishq (Hindi), Vani Prakashan, 2003.
- Heer Ranjha (Hindi), Vani Prakshan 2003.
- Steel Man was Here, Penguin, 2002.
- Kaifi Azmi- Selected Poems and Life Sketch, Rajpal Publishers, 2002. ISBN 81-7028-395-7.
- Aaj Ke Prashid Shayar: Kaifi Azmi-Chuni Hui Shayari (Hindi), Rajpal & Sons, 2002.ISBN 8170285429.
- Meri Awaz Suno (Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan, 2002.
- Nai Gulistan Vol.1 (Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan, 2001.
- Nai Gulistan Vol.2 (Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan, 2001.
- Doosra Banwas (Hindi), Diamond Pocket Books Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-288-0982-2.
- Awara Sajde (Hindi), Lokbharti Prakashan, 1995.
- Sarmaya (Urdu), Mayar Publications, 1994.
Articles on Kaifi Azmi
- Kaifi Azmi: Symbol of resistance – Ranjit Hoskote.The Hindu, Sunday, 19 May 2002.
- Kaifi Azmi: A poet and a gentleman. The Times Of India, 10 May 2002.
- Kaifi Azmi: the last comrade-poet – Tarique Omum. The Milli Gazette.
Source : Wikipedia
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