Jan Nisar Akhtar
Jan Nisar Akhtar | |
|---|---|
Bombay, Maharashtra, India | |
| Occupation | Poet, lyricist |
| Alma mater | Aligarh Muslim University |
| Genre | Ghazal |
| Literary movement | Progressive Writers' Movement |
| Notable works | "Khaak-e-dil" (The Ashes of Heart") (1973) |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | Javed Akhtar, Salman Akhtar, Uneza Akhtar, Albina Akhtar Sharma, Shahid Khursheed Akhtar |
| Parents | Muztar Khairabadi (father) |
| Relatives | Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (great grandfather) |
| Part of a series on |
| Progressive Writers' Movement |
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Jan Nisar Akhtar (18 February 1914 – 19 August 1976) was an Indian poet of
He was the son of
His poetry works include Nazr-e-Butaan, Salaasil, Javidaan, Pichali Pehar, Ghar Angan and Khaak-e-dil. The latter ("The Ashes of Heart") was a poetry collection for which he was awarded the 1976 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[3]
Early life
Jan Nisar passed his matriculation from Victoria Collegiate High School, Gwalior, and in 1930 joined Aligarh Muslim University, from where he gained his B.A. Honours and M.A. degrees. He started his doctoral work, but had to return to Gwalior due to family conditions.[4]
Career
In 1949, he resigned from his job, moved to
His poetry was secular and like many of progressive writers of his generation talked of freedom, dignity, economic exploitation and other issues gleaming of the leftist leanings.
Ashaar mere yuu.N to zamaane ke liye hai.n,
kuchh sher faqat unako sunaane ke liye hai.n
Although my poems are meant for the whole world,
There are some couplets meant just for the beloved
He wrote and produced a film, Bahu Begum (1967), starring Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari. During the period of four-year to his death he published three collections of his works most important of them being, Khak-e-Dil (The Ashes of Heart"), which has his representative poems from 1935 to 1970, and which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award (Urdu) in 1976.[8] Jan Nisar was commissioned by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru to collate the best Hindustani poetry of last 300 years, and later the first edition of the book titled Hindustan Hamara (Our Hindustan) in two volumes was released by Indira Gandhi. It contained Urdu verses on a topics, ranging from love and praise for India and its history, to festivals like Holi and Diwali, on Indian rivers like the Ganges, Yamuna and the Himalayas.[9]
He died in Bombay on 19 August 1976, while he was still working on
His anthology, Hindustan Hamara was re-released in Hindi in 2006[10]
Family
In 1943, he married Safia, sister of the poet Majaz. Safia worked as a school teacher at an Urdu-medium madarsa (Muslim school). She was meeting a practical necessity, to work outside her home, because Jan Nisar's income was at best sporadic, and it was necessary for her to work to support her children. Thus, when Jan Nisar moved to Mumbai to try his luck at earning a living as a film lyricist, Safia stayed back in Gwalior with their children, and wrote her absent husband a series of letters in Urdu. A collection of these letters, written between 1 October 1943 to 29 December 1953 penned, were first published in 1955 in two volumes under the title, "Harf-e-Aashna" and "Zer-e-Lab." Professor Asghar Wajahat, former Head of the Hindi Department, Jamia Millia Islamia, translated these letters into Hindi and this was published under the title "Tumhare Naam" in 2004.[11]
Safia Akhtar died of cancer on 17 January 1953, less than ten years after her wedding, and left behind two sons.[citation needed] Jan Nisar left the children in the care of relatives while he pursued his hobbies of writing poetry and hobnobbing with various luminaries and socialites in Mumbai. Three years after Safia's death, Jan Nisar got married again on 17 September 1956, to Khadija Talat.
Filmography
Lyricist
- Baap Re Baap (1955)[12]
- Yasmin (1955)[13]
- CID (1956)
- Naya_Andaz(1956)
- Black Cat (1956)
- Rustam Sohrab (1963)[14]
- Prem Parvat(1974)
- Shankar Hussain (1977)
- Noorie (1979)
- Razia Sultan (1983)
Producer
- Bahu Begum (1967)
Works
- Khamosh Awaz
- Khak-e-dil, Publisher: Nagara Tabaat, 1973.
- Hindustan Hamara, Volume 1 & 2. 1965, 1974.
- Pichhle Peher.
- GHAR AANGAN.
- Harf-e-ashna: Khatut (Letters)
- Ja-Nisar Akhxtar ki Shai'iri: Urdu Hindi me yakja, tr. by Amar Dihlavi. Publisher Star, 1983.
- Kuliyat-e-Jan Nisar Akhtar. Publisher: Al-Muslim, 1992.
- Hamara Hindustan (anthology), Rajkamal Publications, 2006.
- Nigahon Ke Saaye, ed. Vijay Akela, Rajkamal Publications, 2006. ISBN 81-267-1265-1.
Further reading
- Jan Nisar Akhtar by Kishwar Sultan. Publisher: Nasim Book Depot, 1977.
- Intikhab-i Kalam: Majaz, Jazbi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, by ISBN 81-260-0165-8.
- Tumhare Naam. Rajkamal Publications, 2004.
- Letters to Jan Nisar Akhtar by Sufiya Akhtar, 1949 Annual of Urdu Studies vol. 20 (2005).
- A collection of verses by Jan Nisar Akhtar
References
- ISBN 8179910660. p. 296.
- ^ Gulzar to release Jan Nissar Akhtar's Nigahon Ke Saaye Screen, 20 October 2006.
- ^ Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine Sahitya Akademi Award Official listings.
- ^ ISBN 81-260-1194-7. p. 1796-97.
- ISBN 0-415-32904-3, p. 165.
- ^ Jan Nisar Akhtar Lyrics Archived 8 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
- ISBN 81-7201-798-7. p. 226.
- ^ Indian publishing in the seventies. by Vijaya Kumar Das. National Book Trust, India, 1978. p 96.
- ^ Javed Akhtar re-releases Hindustan Humara Rediff.com, 21 August 2006.
- Indian Express, 20 August 2006.
- ^ Tumhare Naam, with love The Hindu, 8 January 2004.
- ISBN 978-81-291-2658-0. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ Yasmin (1955) songs Archived 21 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Jan Nisar Akhtar film songs". Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
External links
- Exclusive innings, Biography at Screen
- Jan Nisar Akhtar at IMDb
- Jan Nissar Akhtar Biography and works
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