When a true artist faces adversity, obstacles and pain he does not become sour,in fact he transforms that pathos into love and sweetness for others like what honeybee does after sucking the bitter nectar.
Shakeel Badayuni (August 3, 1916 – April 20, 1970) was born in Badayun, Utter Perdesh (India) and wrote fabulous film lyrics in his career and was awarded a title of Geet Kar-e-Azam(The Great Lyricist) by Indian Government. He wrote songs for about 89 films over a period of twenty years and was one the most popular and sought after lyricist, and holds a phenomenal track record of successful, meaningful and beautiful poetry.
His lyrics were exceptionally composed to the demands of the film scenes and were beautifully corrobrated with musical compositions as he worked with the great masters of his time like Noshad, Ravi and Khurshid Anwar. Some of his magic is as follows:
چھوڑ بابل کا گھر موھے پی کے نگر آج جانا پڑا (فلم بابل
بچپن کے دن بھلا نہ دینا (فلم دیدار
آج میرے من میں سکھی بانسری بجائے کوئی(فلم آن
لے جا مری دعائیں لے جا پردیس جانے والے(فلم دیدار
بچپن کی محبت کو دل سے نہ جدا کرنا (فلم بیجو باورا
اے دل تجھے قسم ھے تو ھمت نہ ھارنا (فلم دلاری
سہانی رات ڈھل چکی نہ جانے تم کب آو گے(فلم دلاری
ساقیا آج مجھے نیند نہیں آئے گی سنا ھے تیری محفل میں رت جگا ھے(فلم صاحب بی بی اور غلام
(جب پیار کیا تو ڈرنا کیا (فلم مغل اعظم
Besides his film songs which were his forte he also wrote beautiful ghazals in the most conventional tradition but they are scented with his own flair, crisp, sensitive, expectant, optimistic and thoughtful.
As a poet of life he was very clear in his perception that the whole life was a prayer and the beauty of it lies in living in present and experiencing the 'power of now':
کتنی لطیف کتنی حسین کتنی مختصر
اک نو شگفتہ پھول کی نکہت ھے زندگی
ان کے خیال کی تمنا میں مست ھوں
میرے لیے شکیل عبادت ھے زندگی
His poetry reflected his life and his life was reminiscent in his lyrics, his songs and his poetry that represent life as hopeful, cheerful and striving for the best.
میں شکیل دل کا ھوں ترجماں کہ محبتوں کا ھوں رازداں
مجھے فخر ھے مری شاعری مری زندگی سے جدا نہیں
He was inspired by the spiritual and intellectual heritage of Muslim thought and since he was well versed in Arabic and Persian so he knew the intricacies and beauty that lies in our glorious tradition. He was great admirer of Iqbal and paid tribute and homage to him:
کھل جائیں شکیل اس پر اسرار خداوندی
اقبال کے شعروں کو انسان اگر سمجھے
As an artist he believed that art was the tool which can make meaningful contribution in our lives and he worked throughout his career to work towards that end:
جادہ عشق میں گر گر کے سنبھلتے رھنا
پاوں جل جائیں مگر آگ پہ چلتے رھنا
جلوہ امن تم ھی سے ھے محبت والو
مہر تاباں کی طرح روز نکلتے رھنا
نغمہ عشق نہ ھو ایک ھی دھن پر قائم
وقت کے ساتھ زرا راگ بدلتے رھنا
ھے یہی وقت عمل جہد مسلسل کی قسم
بے سہاروں کی طرح ہاتھ نہ ملتے رھنا
زندگی ھے فقط گرمی رفتار کا نام
منزلیں ساتھ لئے راہ پہ چلتے رھنا
Greetings,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this. I very much like it.
I like your description of him as a "poet of life" and how he "believed that art was the tool which can make meaningful contribution in our lives..."
I want to now read his works. Are there quality English translations?
All good wishes,
robert
I do not think they have been translated into English and this is one of the two major problems from which South Asia suffers: we do not present before the world the poets who truly represent the heartbeats of the masses, and whose works are being passed on even from illiterate peasants to their sons, generation after generations.
DeleteThe second problem is that we do not know that most of these "consensus poets" were actually translating the vision of Iqbal into easy and enjoyable mediums.
Shakeel was the most famous and popular poet of "Bollywood" (Indian film industry) from the 1940s till his death. His poetry is remembered by heart by millions and millions of people through movies. Yet, they think that Iqbal was something else, someone placed on a pedestal where the ordinary person cannot reach him; not knowing that they already know almost the entire Iqbal through these "film songs" written by his devout disciples!
When we listen little carefully we find all good literatue complimenting each other, I think the inspiration of او دنیا کے رکھوالے سن درد میرے نالے
Deleteby Shakeek Badayuni (Film Baijo Bavra) is Iqbal's poem شکوہ
this is what I feel.
Greetings,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this response. It's inspiring to learn that the disciples of Iqbal have done (are doing) what you describe here, even if I won't likely be able to read the work of Shakeel Badayuni.
All good wishes,
robert
Actually, most of the songs of Shakeel Badayuni are on Youtube, and many of them are subtitled in English. Even when not sub-titled, the video and the accompanying music usually conveys the spirit and message of the song. Try watching "pyar kia to darna kya" from Mughal-i-Azam. I don't know how it may be spelled on YouTube, but just copy paste the phrase and see what turns up.
DeleteGreetings,
DeleteThank you for this information! I look forward to exploring this.
All good wishes,
robert
hmm..I am overwhelmed to say anything in praise of the poet and your post...Dar Sahib...its indeed very fine work you have done...
ReplyDeletehmm...good to read it.
Thanks Thinking.
Delete@robert
ReplyDeleteTranslating poetry is very difficult and within the poetic genre translating a nazm is easier than translating a ghazal but translating a geet and a film song is quite daunting and everything just loses in translation.
Translating geet is quite impossible because the sounds,smells,taste,feel and colors that a language has cannot be translated and shown as they come from a culture, a civilization, a landscape that has its own people, rivers, mountains, plants, fruits, ecological cycle, climates, mornings, evenings, sunrise, sunsets, rains, winds and so on as they all form the basis for song writing.
To many critics and propagators of high literature film songs are frivolous and insubstantial, but those lines which are engraved on listeners’ hearts and minds forever just cannot be setaside as frivolous.
Greetings,
Delete@ Akhtar Wasim Dar, Thank you for this.
Yes, I'm familiar with the challenges of translating, particularly when its from a language which is pregnant with multi-various meanings into something probably closer to a linguistic straight-jacket (e.g., American English). Much of the richness is lost.
Nonetheless, I enjoy what scent of the dust of the caravan of love that I can absorb.
Many thanks.
All good wishes,
robert
Mamun, I love the new look of your blog. Very refreshing. I'm hoping my next post will be of interest to you, I'll confess I haven't been posting the stuff you usually have a leaning for!
ReplyDeleteSarah you write beautifully and have a unique style, would love to see your next post :)
DeleteShakil sahab wrote not only great Ghazala but also one of the greatest Bhajan of all time , "Mana Tarapata Hari Darshana ko Aaj" this song just shows what a talent this person possesed.
ReplyDelete