Sahir Ludhianvi
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Born | Abdul Hayee 8 March 1921 Ludhiana, Punjab, British India |
Died | 25 October 1980 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
(aged 59)
Occupation | poet, lyricist |
Sahir Ludhianvi is the pen name of Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980) who is popularly known as Sahir. Sahir was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. His work influenced Indian cinema, in particular Bollywood film. Sahir won a Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He won a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work on Kabhie Kabhie (1976) and he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971. On 8 March 2013, the ninety-second anniversary of Sahir's birth, a commemorative stamp was issued in his honour.
On 8 March 1921, in a red sandstone haveli in Karimpura, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, Sahir was born to a Muslim family. His mother, Sardar Begum, left her estranged husband thus forfeiting any claim to financial assets from the marriage. In 1934, Sahir's father remarried and sued (acrimoniously and unsuccessfully) for custody of his son. Sardar Begum required protection from Sahir's father and suffered financial deprivation. Sahir's place of birth is marked with a small plaque on the building's arched entrance.
Sahir was educated at the Khalsa High School in Ludhiana. He then enrolled at the Satish Chander Dhawan Government College For Boys, Ludhiana. The auditorium there is named after him. As a college student, Sahir was popular for his ghazals and nazms (poetry in Urdu) and empassioned speeches. In his first year, however, he was expelled for fraternising with a female student on the principal's lawn.
In 1943, Sahir settled in Lahore. There, he completed Talkhiyaan (Bitterness) (1945), his first published work in Urdu. Sahir edited Urdu magazines such as Adab-e-Lateef, Shahkaar, Prithlari, and Savera and became a member of the Progressive Writers' Association. However, when he made controversial statements promoting communism, a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Government of Pakistan. In 1949, after partition, Sahir fled from Lahore to Delhi. He moved to India as he missed his Hindu and Sikh friends who had fled from Pakistan and he preferred to live in secular India over an Islamic Pakistan. After eight weeks, Sahir moved to Bombay. He later lived in Andheri, a suburb of Mumbai. There, his neighbours included Gulzar, a poet and lyricist and Krishan Chander, an Urdu litterateur. In the 1970s, Sahir built a bungalow which he called Parchaiyaan (Shadows), after one of his works, and lived there till his death.