Dareechah-e-Nigaarish

Dr. Afzal Mirza's 2005 post "Bard in a Big City" 

in blogspot "Baithak" run by "Temporal"

Bard in a Big City by Dr. Afzal Mirza

The Use of Shehr (City) as a Metaphor in Saifuddin Saif's Poetry

 
Many Urdu poets have used city as a metaphor in their poetry but none as passionately as Saifuddin Saif

From Mir Taqi Mir to Munir Niazi every poet of repute has in one way or the other referred to the city or 'shehr' in their verses. The city is sometimes their home towns which they had to leave under the force of circumstances or in many cases it is the city of their beloved. Mir remembered his home town when he had to migrate to Lucknow in search of livelihood. Nostalgically he wrote:

دلی کہ ایک  شہر تھا عالم میں انتخاب

رہتے تھے منتخب ہی جہاں رُوزگار کے

Dilli keh aik shehr thaa aalam main intikhab
Rehtay thay muntakhib hi jahan roozgar kay

Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Nasir Kazmi, Ahmad Faraz and Munir Niazi don't name any particular city in their poetry but call it shehr. It is said about the dwellers of Peshawar that they always refer to their city as shehr. Many years ago when I visited Sarajevo in Bosnia, I was surprised to know that people there also referred to their city as shehr -- a Turkish tradition perhaps. Faiz wrote beautiful poems on Lahore naming it as the city of lights:

بستا ہے اِس کُہر کے پیچھے روشنیوں کا  شہر 

Basta hai iss kohar kay peechay raushanion ka shehr

But he is not the only poet to write about Lahore, referring to it as shehr. Nasir Kazmi wandered in the dark streets of Lahore in search of the 'lost ones' as did Shohrat Bukhari. Munir Niazi called it 'uss baiwafa ka shehr' and Safdar Mir prayed for it in his native Punjabi as 'jeevay shehr Lahore'.

It was poet Saifuddin Saif who highlighted his deep emotive experience while referring to the word shehr. This word in his long and short poems symbolises the painful separation from his beloved.

Saif came to Lahore from Amritsar after Partition in 1947 as did his many contemporaries and juniors like Ahmad Rahi, A Hamid, Zahir Kashmiri, Shahzad Ahmad, Javed Shahin, Ahmad Mushtaq, Salahuddin Nadim and others. Famous writer Saadat Hasan Manto also belonged to Amritsar but he arrived in Lahore from Bombay as he had shifted there much earlier than 1947.

The city of Amritsar can rightly boast of its role in the cultural development of Lahore after the partition. So much so that Beli -- the first movie made in Pakistan -- was all an Amritsar affair with Saadat Hasan Manto as the writer, Masud Parvez as the director, Rashid Attre as the music director and Ahmad Rahi as the lyricist.

Some of these people were introduced to the realm of literature by Saifuddin Saif but many were inspired by the literary stalwarts that had converged on Amritsar in 1940's as teachers at the M A O College, Amritsar. Some of these luminaries were Dr Rashid Jahan, Mahmooduz Zafar, M D Taseer and Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Like all well known writers, Saif started writing very early in his youth. Being a genuine poet he received an early acclaim and his popularity reached its zenith during his college days when he became star poet of all mushairas in Amritsar. He had a melodious voice that left a deep impact on the sensibility of listeners. Thus even as a college student he had a large following among the youth of Amritsar who almost 'worshipped' him. Soon his fame spread beyond Amritsar and his ghazals and poems became popular in the literary circles of whole India.

I first became familiar with his poetry during my college days when in early 1950's besides Faiz's Dast-e-Saba two more books appeared in the market and became instantaneous hits. These were Saif's Kham-e-Kakul and Adam's Kharabaat. Some of the ghazals from Kham-e-Kakul became so popular that people used to quote them in the gatherings. I remember that in a discussion in the Punjab Assembly one of the members retorted to a remark by another member with Saif's line Ronay walay tujhay kiss baat pay rona aya.

Saif's poetry was characterised by the pain of separation and recounted early setbacks of his life. Poet Shaukat Rizvi says Saif's poetry resulted from an unsuccessful love affair. Like Sahir Ludhianvi, Saif expressed his emotional grief in highly inspired verses:

تمہارے  بعد  خدا  جانے کیا  ہؤا  دل  کو

کسی سے ربط بڑھانے کا حوصلہ نہ  ہؤا

Tumharay baad khuda janay kya hua dil ko
Kisi say rabt barhanay ka hausla na hua

Shaukat says the above-mentioned verse was the outcome of Saif's failure in his intense love affair. In another verse written in the same vein, the poet said:

Chamak kay aur barhao mairi siah bakhti
Kisi kay ghar kay ujalo tumhay kisi say kya

In a similar mood of utter frustration, Saif wrote his famous ghazal that became a hit song of a movie called Saat Laakh:

Qarar lootnay waly qarar ko tarsay

As happens in most of the cases, the poet's lady love after marriage departs for another city and thereafter the whole of poet's attention is focused on that city. The long poems and some of the ghazals of Saif portray the feelings of the poet about the city to which his beloved had moved to. His poem Jab tairay shehr say guzarta hoon -- an abbreviated version of which appeared in film Vaada -- beautifully represents those emotions:

 کوئی   پرسانِ حال   ہو   تو   کہوُں

کیسی  آندھی  چلی  ہے  تیرے  بعد

شمعِ اُمید   صر صر ِ    غم     میں

کس   بہانے   جلی   ہے  تیرے بعد

جس  میں  کوئی  مکیں   نہیں   رہتا

دل  وُہ  سوُنی  گلی  ہے  تیرے  بعد

دن  گزارا ہے  کس  طرح  مَیں  نے

رات کیوں کر  ڈھلی  ہے  تیرے بعد

روز  جیتا   ہوُں   روز   مرتا   ہوُں

جب   تِرے   شہر  سے  گزرتا  ہوُں

Koi pursan-e-haal ho to kahoon
Kaisi andhi chali hai tairay baad
       Shama-e-umeed sarsar-e-gham main
       Kiss bahanay jali hai tairay baad
Jiss main koi makeen na rehta ho
Dil woh sooni gali hai tairaybaad
      Din guzara hai kiss tarah mein nay
      Raat kyooonkar dhali hai tairay baad
Roze jeetaa hoon   roze   martaa  hoon
Jub   tairay  shehr say  guzartaa  hoon

Saif also wrote a poem Mein taira shehr chorr jaoon ga which Mujib Alam sang in his melodious voice for film Shama aur parwana:

مَیں  اکیلا  نخل ِ صحرا کی طرح ہوُں کیا  کروُں

یار  تیرے  شہر  میں  اغیار   تیرے  شہر  میں

تیری  رُسوائی  کا ڈر  سَو  بار  واپس  لے  گیا

شوق لایا  ہے مجھے  سَو  بار تیرے  شہر میں

جس کے شانوں پر تِری  زلفِ پریشاں  تھی وُہ سیفؔ

ڈھونڈتا    ہے   سایہ ِٔ  دیوار    تیرے     شہر    میں

Main akaila nakhl-e-sehra ki tarah hoon kya karoon
Yaar tairay shehr main aghyar tairay shehr main

Tairi rusvai ka dar sau bar wapas lay gya
Shauq laya hai mujhay sau bar tairay shehr main

Jis kay shanon par tairi  zulf-e-parishan thi woh Saif
Dhoondhta hai saya-e-deewar tairay shehr mainy

Article on the web site  CinePlot about Saifuddin Saif's Contribution to Pakistani Cinema as a Song Writer, Script Writer and Producer

Saifuddin Saif was born in Amritsar, in 1922, but most of his higher education was completed in Lahore, where he graduated from Government College. Punjab being the hub of cultural activities, influenced his hobbies, with more literary activities. His poetry evolved and he wrote some very powerful poems during his college days, which immensely made him very popular throughout Punjab. He was already inclined towards writing for films, but the films for which he had written lyrics before partition, were not released due to the traumatic conditions in the subcontinent. Teri Yaad the first film to be released in Pakistan in 1948, started its shooting before partition. Saif wrote songs for it and got a lot of praise for the freshness of his poetry. But the first film he did after Partition was Hichkoley, in 1949. Amanat (1950) and Naveli (1952) were his earliest films, but the true flourish in his career came in 1953, when his songs in Ghulam, Mehbooba became hits. Especially, a duet by Inayat Hussain Bhatti and Munawwar Sultana, titled Koi Soag Hai Fiza mein, in Mehbooba is a memorable one. But, an all conquering hit was yet to be materialized, which turned out to be Payal Mein Geet Hain cham cham ke, in Gumnam (1954), which was so brilliantly sung buy Iqbal Bano under the supervision of the most incredible music director, Master Inayat. It was a number which also became a hot cake in India. This promoted Saifuddin Saif to inaugurate his own film making called Rehnuma Films in 1954. He scripted and presented a film, Raat Kee Baat on this banner, which flopped miserably, but his next movie, in 1957, titled Saat Lakh, literally minted money, as its name and script suggested.

Rasheed Attre gave unforgettable tunes for the film. Who can forget those lilting numbers from his pen like Aaye mausam rangilay suhanay (Zubaida Khanum), Qarar lootney waley (Munir Hussain), etc. They are still on everyone's lips, even after 50 years of their release. In this context, it must be noted that the first Nigar Award ever to be given to a film-maker, was given to Saifuddin Saif for Saat Lakh, in 1958. He also got Nigar Film Award for the best scriptwriter of that film.

In 1959, Saif Sahab came up with another pearl, which was the film Kartar Singh. He had written its sterling script and dialogues, and also directed it with a perfect vision. Allauddin did the central role, which was also to catapult the artiste to newer heights. The film had his lyrics too, but the most stunning song of the whole film was penned by the Indian Punjabi Poetess Amrita Preetam titled Aj aakhan Waris Shah noon. He later wrote the scripts for his films, Darwaza, Madar-e-Watan and Lut Da Maal. While he also penned impressive scripts for Hasan Tariq Sawal, and much later, for his film Kaloo. He wrote dialogues for Hasan Tariq’s Umrao Jan Ada, Hasan Tariq’s Askari’s Aan, Raza Meer’s Sohni Mahiwal, and Punjabi film Siddha Rasta, etc. His brilliant dialogues in film Professor, a masterpiece of oration by Mohammad Ali, were the highlight of the 1970s.

Saif Sahab, meanwhile, had completed his poetry collection, Kham-e-Kakul, which is full of brilliant ghazals and poems. Poems like Raat kee besukoon khamoshi mein, sung by Mehdi Hasan so sensitively in Sawal, and Loag kehte hai ke parbat se nikal kar chashme, sung by Mehnaz for Sangdil, were carried in Kham-e-Kakul, which were taken later for films. Amongst the films that he wrote his memorable lyrics, for include films like Toofan (Aaj yeh kisko nazar ke samne paata hoon main), Qatil (Ulfat kee nai manzil ku chala), Inteqam, (Dugdugi baja ke), Lakht-e-Jigar (Woh khwab suhana toot gaya), Wadah (Jab tere shehr se guzarta hoon), Aankh Ka Nasha (Bichwa bajey re), Anarkali (Kahan tak sunoge kahan tak sunaoon), Azra (Sab dagh-e-dil charagh bana kar), Tehzeeb (Aaja hum kyun rahein akele), Shama Parwana (Main tera shehr choor jaoonga), Anjuman, (Lag rahee hai mujhe aaj sari faza), Umrao Jan Ada (Kaatay naa katay ray rateeyaan), Suraiyya Bhopali (Tha yaqeen ka aaeingee yeh raatan kabhi), etc.

It was due to such masters of their trade and that irrepressible literary influence that Lollywood had that unmistakable Seepia hue to it. People like Tanvir Naqvi, Fayyaz Hashmi, Saifuddin Saif, Hazeen Qadri, Jalib, Qateel Shifai, Faiz, Ahmed Rahi, Suroor Barabankvi, Himayat Ali Shaayar and others, who made the vital difference with the scripts, dialogues, lyrics and an overall feel of art and craft. With their departure from the industry, who could the industry look up to?

Saifuddin Saif died at the age 72 in 1993.

Bio-Sketch of Saifuddin Saif from Pakistan Today