The Masters: Jan Nisar Akhtar

18.02.1914 - 19.08.1976

When veteran music director Khayyam was complimented on his compositions, he said, “Where would my songs be without the musicians who bring my tunes to life, the lyricists who adorn those melodies with words, and the singers who gave voice to them?” Composers like Khayyam are vocal in their recognition of the importance of collaborative efforts in creating the classic Hindi film song. So also, directors who used songs, not just as interludes in the script, but as a way to push the narrative.  The songs of the age also demanded a high calibre of lyrics –lyrics that would suit the context of the scene and the character on whom it would be picturized. And for that, the film industry turned to poets who were fluent not only in Hindi or Urdu but also steeped in the rhythm and melody of verse. Since being a mere poet was not sufficient to earn a living, many a poet turned to the more lucrative career of writing lyrics to melodies. One such poet-lyricist was Jan Nisar Akhtar. 

Born Syed Jaan Nisar Hussain Rizvi on 18 February 1914, Akhtar belonged to a family of writers and Islamic scholars. His father, Iftikhar Hussain (Muztar Khairabadi) was a well-known Urdu poet. So was his paternal uncle, Muhammed Hussain (Bismil Khairabadi).  He grew up steeped in an atmosphere of literature and poetry.

Akhtar passed his matriculation from Victoria Collegiate High School in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Later, he earned his B.A. Honours and M.A. degrees from Aligarh Muslim University. When financial constraints interrupted his doctoral studies, Akhtar returned to Gwalior to teach. In the 40s, he moved to Bhopal to teach at Hamidia University. By this time, he had become an integral part of the Progressive Writers’ Movement.

 In 1943, he married Safiya Siraj-ul-Haq, the sister of poet Majaz Lucknowi, a marriage that, according to Safiya, only took place because she was audacious enough to write to him. A few years later, Akhtar, a staunch Communist, lost his job when the Party was banned. Like many of his comrades, he was forced to go underground. Tired of hiding, he moved to Bombay to seek his living. Safia stayed back in Gwalior with their children, where she worked as a school teacher to support their family. They kept in touch through letters, filled with poetic and romantic prose, and poetry. [Her letters were published after Safiya’s untimely death in 1953 – in two volumes, Harf-e-Aashna and Zer-e-Lab.]

In Bombay, Akhtar became friends with progressive writers like Ismat Chugtai, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Mulk Raj Anand, Krishan Chander and others. But success as a lyricist only came after six long years of struggle, years in which Safiya continued to support him both morally and financially.

Though Akhtar wrote songs for a handful of nondescript films, it was Yasmin (1955) that gave him some measure of success. Unfortunately, Safiya would not be alive to see it. She died of cancer in 1953, without meeting her beloved husband. Akhtar was on his way to her sickbed in Lucknow when she passed away. Heartbroken, he wrote a poem called Khaak-e-Dil.

Lucknow mere vatan, mere chaman-zaar vatan Tere gahvaara-e-aaghosh mein ae jaan-e-bahaar Apni duniya-e-hasiin dafn kiye jaata huun Tu ne jis dil ko dhadakne ki adaa bakhshii thi Aaj woh dil bhi yahiin dafn kiye jaata huun Dafn hai dekh mira ahd-e-bahaaraan tujh mein Dafn hai dekh miri ruuh-e-gulistaan tujh mein

Lucknow, my land, my land of bountiful gardens O Spring's essence, in your loving embrace, I bury this beautiful world of mine The heart that you taught to beat That heart too I bury here today Lo, buried here are my seasons of blossoming Buried here in you, look, is the garden of my soul

Akhtar with sons Javed and Salman
Picture credit: Timeless Indian Melodies, Facebook

His meagre income from films wasn’t sufficient to look after his children so he left his boys with his in-laws. This led to an estrangement of sorts with his son, scriptwriter and lyricist, Javed Akhtar, that lasted well into the latter’s adulthood. In fact, when Javed came to Bombay when he was 18, he did not stay with his father. However, the one thing that father and son had in common was their love for language, and an ability to write. He encouraged his son to write and would recite his own poetry to the young man, inviting his feedback. An older Javed is more tolerant of his father’s flaws. He feels that his father didn’t attain the success he could have because his father didn’t know how to sell himself to the film industry. He could not peddle his poetry nor beg people he didn’t know to give him work.

Be that as it may, Jan Nisar Akhtar has carved a place for himself in the pantheon of great poet-lyricists. His lyrics were filled with various shades of love and romance; his poetry, on the other hand, continued to pulsate with the Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb that looked beyond the divisions of region and religion. In his poem, Hum ek hain, he writes:

Ye hai Himala ki zamiin Taj-o-Ajanta ki zamiin Sangam hamaari aan hai Chittor apni shaan hai Jamuna ka tat Gokul ka ban Ganga ke dhaare apne hain Keh do koi dushman-nazar Utthe na bhuule se idhar Keh do ki hum bedar hain Keh do hum tayyaar hain Avaaz do hum ek hain!

This is the land of the Himalayas The land of the Taj and Ajanta The confluence of three rivers, our honour The land of Chittor, our pride The banks of the Jamuna, the forests of Gokul The flowing Ganga is ours Tell those hostile eyes Never to glance at our land, even inadvertently Tell them we are vigilant Tell them we are ready Tell them we are united!

In yet another ghazal titled Zindagi ye to nahin tujhko sawaara hi na ho, he ends with:
Sharm aati hai us shahr mein hum hain jahaan
Na mile bhiik toh laakhon ka guzaara hi na ho
I am ashamed that in the city where I live
Thousands of people cannot survive without alms

With Dilip Kumar and others
Picture Credit: Film History Pics, Twitter

Like Kaifi Azmi, a contemporary, Jan Nisar Akhtar’s lyrical output wasn’t as much as some of his other peers like Sahir Ludhianvi or Majrooh Sultanpuri – approximately 310 or so songs in a 4-decade-long career. Many of his songs were written for obscure films, resulting in them not being as popular or even as well-known. But his poetry, infused with the spirit of revolution, and his lyrics, soaked in romanticism were not a contradiction – it was the inherent nature of a man whose romanticism fuelled his idealism and the ideals of equality that he cherished. On his 109^th birth anniversary, I share some a few Jan Nisar Akhtar songs, in no particular order (though my favourites cluster around the top of the list).

Aap yun faaslon se guzarte rahein
Shankar Hussain (1977)
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Khayyam

An obscure film, for all that it was directed by Kamal Amrohi, it nevertheless boasted of some lovely melodies by Khayyam, including the lovely Mohammed Rafi number, Kahin ik masoom nazuk si ladki, penned by Amrohi himself. This song, however, a personal favourite of Lata Mangeshkar’s, was written by Jan Nisaar Akhtar.

Aap yun faaslon se guzarte rahe Dil pe qadmon ki aawaz aati rahi Aahaton ke andhere chamakte rahe Raat aati rahi raat jaati rahi Qatra qatra pighalta raha aasmaan Rooh ki waadiyon mein na jaane kahan Ek nadi dilruba geet gaati rahi

As you wandered in the distances The sounds of your footsteps echo in my heart The sounds of darkness were illuminated As nights came and went The skies melted, drop by drop And in the recesses of my soul, A river is singing lilting melodies

Picturized on Madhuchanda and Suhail, Akhtar painted a pen picture of love and the agony of separation.

Ae dil-e-nadaan
Razia Sultan (1983)
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Khayyam

As I wrote in my post on Khayyam earlier, I love this song as much for its silences as I do for its music, its lyrics and for Lata’s rendition of it. Khayyam’s incorporation of the silences into the song heightens the restlessness that is evident in Akhtar’s lyrics as an Empress weighs her love against her duty to the crown and her people.

Ae dil-e-nadaan aarzuu kya hai, justujuu kya hai Kya qayaamat hai? Kya musiibat hai? Keh nahin sakta kis ka armaan hai Zindagi jaise khoyi-khoyi hai Hairaan hairaan hai Ye zamiin chup hai, aasmaan chup hai Phir ye dhadkan-sii char-su kya hai?

O my naïve heart, what’s it you desire? What do you seek? What calamity is this, what misfortune [That] I cannot speak of him who I desire Life seems lost, bewildering The land lies still The skies are mute Yet, what are these heartbeats That echo all around me?

Kaanha bole na
Sangat (1976)/ Kabhi Dhoop Kabhi Chhaon (1992)
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey
Music: Salil Chowdhury

This song is one of my favourites – listen to how the song begins: Lata’s voice is allowed to shine without a single note of music to complement it. The ‘real’ song only begins after a conversation in the middle, and then harks back again to the first verse. The violin follows, with the guitar playing the arpeggios, the strings come in followed by a slight dissonance, then, single notes on the guitar supported by the strings and reeds ; the strings give way to the flute and chimes, and then Lata again.

Akhtar’s words are sublime, standing in both as a bhajan and as an ode to Krishna as the lover.
Tan soyi man jaage re
Meethi meethi agan koi laage re
Boluun chori chori man ki batiya tori
Kaahe jaane na maane na preetam mori
Kaah re haari main mora ho lena
Puuchhoon baar baar Kaanha bole na
Kya hai preet kya hai pyaar Kaanha bole na

 

Sangat was re-released in the 90s as Kabhi Dhoop Kabhi Chaaon.

  

Aankhon hi aankhon mein ishaara ho gaya
C.I.D (1956)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt
Music: OP Nayyar
 

Following a minor tiff, which nevertheless has her feeling humiliated and angry, he turns up to apologize, his contrition showing in his eyes. She melts, but not before making him pay – just a little. Rafi sings the refrain, while Geeta sings one antara after another – by turns saucy, teasing, flirting, until in the end, she cannot help but admit:
Kaisa ye pyaar hain
Kaisa ye naaz hain
Hum bhi toh kuch sunein
Hum se kya raaz hain
Achha toh ye dil hamaara ho gaya…
Akhtar proved to be as adept at flirtation as he was at love.

 

Ae jaan-e-wafa
Anarkali (1953)
Singer: Geeta Dutt
Music: Basant Prakash
 

This is the single Geeta Dutt solo in a film that became a Lata Mangeshkar – and by extension, C Ramchandra – tour de force. Music director Basant Prakash composed this one song in the film before ill-health mandated his exit. Perhaps that’s also the reason that Akhtar wrote just this one song.

In context, Nadira (Bina Rai) has just met Prince Salim in the gardens when Emperor Akbar arrives, drawn by her voice. Salim, who hasn’t told Nadira who he is, leaves in haste when he hears his father’s voice. Nadira confronts the Emperor, whom she doesn’t recognize. When the Emperor impugns her absent lover as a coward who deserted her for fear of him, Nadira throws down the gauntlet – her love will bring him back. It’s that self-belief that Akhtar channels in:
Wafaa ki laaj rah jaayegi aaja tere aane se
Mohabbat ki nazar neechi na ho jaaye zamaane se
Kehte hain kise pyaar zamaane ko dikha de
Duniya ki nazar ishq ke qadmon pe jhuka de
Come, my beloved, she sings, come to preserve the honour of our love; show the world what it means to be in love, let not our love be demeaned thus in the eyes of the world.
Geeta Dutt poured her soul into this song, her voice sounding as clear as a bell as the song reaches a crescendo.

 

Be-muravvat bewafaa
Sushila (1966)
Singers: Mubarak Begum
Music: C Arjun

Be-muravvat bewafaa begaana-e-dil aap hain
Aap maane ya na maane mere qaatil aap hain
Aap se shikva hai mujh ko ghair se shikva nahin
Jaanti huun dil mein rakhne ke qaabil aap hain
What can one say about couplets that are so inconsistent in tone? In the first couplet, she bemoans his incivility, his infidelity, and his lack of awareness of her heart; whether he accepts it or nor, he’s responsible for her death, she says. In the second couplet, however, she does an about-face: I address my plaint to you, not to a stranger, she laments, for I know that you are worthy of being enshrined in my heart. Frankly, I can only think that the woman has lost her marbles! But I have to commend Akhtar for bringing out the inherent contradictions of being in love.
 

This obscure film had another lovely song – Gham ki andheri raat mein – a male duet between Talat Mahmood and Mohammed Rafi. Strangely enough, this film was likely re-released as Subah Zaroor Aayegi in 1977.

 

Yahan hum wahan tum
Shrimati 420 (1956)
Singers: Geeta Dutt, Mohammed Rafi
Music: OP Nayyar

Akhtar was no stranger to fun; in this Geeta-Rafi duet, he indulges in his love for whimsy in the lyrics, lending colour to the nok-jhonk between Meena Shorey and Johnny Walker in a dream sequence – incidentally, the ‘dream’ is that of Meena’s husband, played by Om Prakash. Akhtar’s word play is evident in the transposition of words in the lyrics, and is proof, if proof be needed, that like Kaifi Azmi, he was very efficient at ‘cutting a corpse to fit a grave’.
Mera dil tha haseen mera dil tha jawan
Liye kis ne chura gaya haaye kahaan
Kahaan dil hain tera kahaan tera jigar
Yahaan khud hii nahin humein apni khabar
Mat haaye karo mere naak mein dum 

 

Bechain nazar betaab jigar
Yasmin (1955)
Singer: Talat Mahmood
Music: C Ramchandra
 

Yasmin was the film that brought Jan Nisar Akhtar a certain measure of success. This Suresh-Vyjayanthimala starrer was standard run-of-the-mill fare, but it afforded Akhtar the opportunity to write a variety of songs for C Ramchandra’s compositions. This song, picturized on Suresh and Maruti [playing a lute and a banjo respectively – badly], is complemented by Talat Mahmood’s honeyed vocals singing:

Jab raat zara shabnam se ghule Lahraayi huyi woh zulf khule Nazron se nazar ek bhed kahe Dil dil se kahe ek afsaana haay afsaana

When the night is drenched in dew And your wavy tresses are loosened Then glances meet and exchange secrets And hearts share tales [of love]

Beqasi hadd se jab guzar jaaye
Kalpana (1960)
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: OP Nayyar

Akhtar paints a vivid pen portrait of hurt and helplessness in Beqasi hadd se guzar jaaye. Picturized on Padmini and Ashok Kumar, it expresses the pain of a woman who cannot explain her past to her beloved.
Zindagi se kaho dulhan ban ke
Aaj to do ghadi sanwar jaaye
Koi ae dil jiye ki mar jaaye
Beqasi hadd se jab guzar jaaye
 

Main tumhi se poochti hoon
Black Cat (1959)
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
Music: N Datta

Back to the sweetness of romance with the man ruminating over how anyone could love him and the woman wondering why it is that she cannot help but love him. What is the magic that holds her in its sway that she cannot forget him even if she wishes to? Why is it that he exerts such an influence over her?
Tum haseen ho tumhe sab dil mein jagah dete hain
Hum mein kya baat hai aisi jo koi pyaar kare
Tumhi saamne ho mere main jidhar nazar uthaaoon
Tumhe bhoolna bhi chahoon toh kabhi na bhool paaun
Mere dil pe haaye itna tumhe ihtiyaar kyun hai?

 

These were some of my favourite Jan Nisar Akhtar songs. What are yours? 

A variation of this post was published in Silhouette magazine here.