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The second session of the September literary evening was dedicated to the life of work of the contemporary poet, Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Arshad Rashid, Asim Bajwa, Khalid Rana, Nagesh Avadhany and Waqar Khan presented the poetry of Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Tashie Zaheer presented a maqala on the life and work of the popular poet, Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Asrar Hasan Khan popularly known as Majrooh Sultanpuri was born at Sultanpur, UP, India, on 1st October 1919. After an education in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, he formally studied the Unani system of medicine and graduated in 1938 as a 'hakim'. He practiced as a Hakim for quite some time. However, his interest in Urdu poetry got the better of him and in association with progressive poets like Jigar Moradabadi, Moin Hasan Jasbi and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Majrooh polished his pen giving it a biting edge of protest and national fervour. He wrote strongly about the British high handedness in India and it was because of such writings that he along with some other members of the Progressive Writers Movement was imprisoned for two years.
In 1945, he wrote his first film song "Gam diye mushtaqil...", which was sung by K.L.Saigal and catapulted him to the forefront of film lyricists, a career which spanned more than five decades.
Majrooh Sultanpuri’s unique genius has enabled him to sail in two theoretically divergent boats - poetry and film writing - with equal mastery. Majrooh, as the most enduring songwriter in the annals of Indian cinema, has written them all to perfection - ghazals, qawwalis, mujras, bhajans, folk-based ditties, sad and comic songs, children’s songs, cabarets and discos, romantic songs and every conceivable genre of film song.
Majrooh’s first and only published work, Ghazal was published as late as in 1956 - 17 years after he began writing verse, though it has since run into several editions, one of which was named Mashaal-e-Jaan.
Majrooh Sultanpuri was the last member of a formidable quartet – Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni and Shailendra being the other three – which while not ignoring the compulsions of commercial cinema transformed film songs into sheer poetry. They were the ones who introduced ghazal to the film music.
Majrooh Sultanpuri passed away on May 24, 2000. He was 80-year old.
This is the man who writes unforgettable poetry like
Main akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar,
Log saath aate gaye aur kaaravaan bantaa gayaa.
(I set out alone towards my goal, but others kept joining me on the way and my journey became a procession).
See video on Motionbox
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