Ludhianvi's life in poetry

Sahir: A Literary Portrait

Author: Surinder Deol

Publisher: OUP

Price: Rs 895

Pages: 308

In the epilogue, Surinder Deol exclaims, “No wonder readers can’t get enough of Sahir!” That could be one of the reasons this book can be considered an important read for any curious reader. As it is, curiosity has always surrounded the enigmatic personality that is Sahir Ludhianvi, the poet and lyricist, something that Mr Deol seems quite convinced about. Throughout the book, Mr Deol draws the connection between Sahir’s literary and his personal life, something that has paradoxically remained quite public. And why not, if not largely owing to the literary genius and the public appeal of Sahir’s lyrics. 

In the absence of an heir, Mr Deol says, Sahir’s literary repertoire is his legacy. As he writes in the epilogue “Every poem or ghazal that (Sahir) wrote mirrored some facet of his own life. It was a tapestry into which he wove the fabric of his aspirations, his success and his failures, and the bitter and sweet lessons of his life; there is no way to separate his biography from his poetry.” This is precisely what Mr Deol achieves in this biography. 

Mr Deol’s critical view of Sahir’s poetry makes way quite often to disclosures about Sahir’s life and writing. Instead of weaving a chronological story about Sahir, the author has chosen to divide the poet’s biography in four sections. These sections are based on the genres into which Sahir’s magnum opus of poetry can be largely categorised into: Poems Bitter and Sweet; Poems War and Peace; Ghazals Melody and Meaning; and, Bhajans One Above, One Below. Selecting poems from each of these genres, and discussing them vis-à-vis their creative mannerism, Mr Deol relates the poems to the personal and political events that may have enabled or motivated each of them. 

Mr Deol consciously evades addressing film songs as a separate category, although cautiously mentions their inevitability to what makes up to be Sahir’s collected literary output. However, he does include film songs if they have been written in the form of a poem before being incorporated into a film as a song. Mr Deol discusses how songs form an exclusive place in Sahir’s creative repertoire, defending his interest and ability to write songs well, so much so that Sahir and Majnu Sultanpuri were the only two lyricists who would get credits for their contribution to the making of the music of a film, which otherwise would only go to the film/ music directors.  

Throughout the book, as Mr Deol describes Sahir as a people’s poet, as an uncommonly popular lyricist for Hindi film songs, or as a much sought-after celebrity. In other words, he thoroughly recognises his literary and creative calibre but also credits his popularity to the mystery and enigma that surrounded his personal and political life. Unavoidably, he also discusses Sahir’s relationship with Amrita Pritam, among other love interests that influenced the poet-lyricist’s love lyrics. Further, he places Sahir in the network of his contemporary poets, lyricists, and most importantly, among the progressive poets. He mentions Faiz more than just often, either vis-à-vis Sahir’s lyrics and his political affiliations, or also more generally as the flagbearer of the lyrical and political thought dominant at the time when Sahir was writing. Frequently and expectedly, Mr Deol suggests both Amrita and Faiz and their idea of love and politics have been muses for Sahir. 

Mr Deol has complemented Sahir’s original Hindustani/ Urdu poems (published in Roman script in this book) by his own translations of them into English. In the introduction, the author defends his attempt to bring in his own voice into the translations, suggesting that as it is, it’s a challenge to translate the appeal of Urdu poetry into English. In his attempt to “draw the same level of aesthetic satisfaction as the native reader”, at places, Mr Deol’s translations are more literary and exact than they need to be. But because they give a much-needed access to Sahir’s poetry to readers who may not know Urdu, the translations do, nevertheless, come across as beautiful and quite absorbing. 

Mr Deol makes no claim of suggesting that this is an authoritative biography on Sahir. And, fairly so. What the book instead claims to be is being a “literary portrait”, and it fulfils that promise. Given my own persistent fascination with Sahir Ludhianvi, I could find what I was looking for in the book; several of the few ways in which I have known Sahir: Pyaasa, Pritam, and a deliberation on Ae Shareef Insaano.