“Madness is the force of
Arts. There is no room for logic here. When one is pushed against the wall, one
breaks through it. My poetry is the offspring of such madness.” Thus said the
well-known Bollywood lyricist and poet Nida Fazli who won the Sahitya Akademy
Award for his collection of poetry Khoya Hua Saa Kuchh in 1997.
Background
Nida Fazli was born in Delhi on October 12,
1938. His father belonged to the school of traditional Urdu poetry. He passed
his boyhood in Gwalior. During the communal riot the partition his parents
migrated to Pakistan but he stayed back in India. He secured an M.A. from
Gwalior College in 1954. It is a sad episode of his life that the circumstances
prevented him to attend the funeral of his parents at Pakistan.
The
budding young poet passed one day by a Hindu temple. A bhajan singer was singing
a composition of Surdas, which spoke of Radha sharing her sorrow to her maids at
being separated from her beloved Krishna. Struck by the poetic beauty of the
Pad, relating to close rapport and bonding between human beings, young Nida got
inspired to make his first serious attempts at writing poetry.
During
that period, he felt that there are limitations of Urdu poetry also. He absorbed
the essence of Mir and Ghalib to express what he intended to. He was fascinated
by the lyrical mood of Meera and Kabir. Nida widened his horizon of poetry
appreciation through the study of Eliot, Gogol, Chekhov and
Takasaki.
The Struggle
He came to Mumbai in search of a job
in 1964. In the early days of his career, he wrote in Dharmayug and Blitz.
Because of his individual style of poetry, he was noticed immediately by many
eminent personalities of films, Hindi and Urdu literature. He was often invited
to Mushairas the prestigious recitation sessions of one’s own
poetry.
Poet Nida Fazli became a favourite name to the connoisseurs as
well as ghazal singers. His works were liked because of its elegant
presentation. One of the remarkable points of his writings is the exclusive use
of the colloquial language for ghazals, dohaas and nazms. He willfully avoids
ornate-Persian imagery and compound words to make his poetry a common place,
closer to the home and hearth. He wrote the famous couplet: 'Duniya jise kehte
hain jaadu kaa Khilona hai Mil jaaye to mitti hai kho jaaye to sona
hai'.
He wrote some critical essays on the poetry of the contemporary
poets of the sixties in his book Mulaqatein. It ired many a poet including Sahir
Ludhianvi, Ali Sardar Jafri and Kaifi Azmi. As a result, he was boycotted in the
some poetic sessions.
The Break
The course of his career
took a beautiful turn when Kamal Amrohi, a filmmaker, approached him. Jaan
Nisaar Akhtar who was appointed as a lyricist of the film Razia
Sultan passed away untimely. There were two more songs to be
written, and he did that so gracefully that he started getting adulated by one
and all of the industry. It was the beginning of his successful career when he
started receiving increasing offers to write lyrics for Hindi films.
He
is famous for his haunting composition of the film Aahista
Aahista that has been included in his work Khoyaa Hua Saa Kuchh. The
emotive lines of the song are follows,
'Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahaan
nahin miltaa Kahin zamin to kahin aasman nahin miltaa'.
His celebrated
lyrics were also used In Tum To Aise Na The, Is
Raat Ki Subah Nahin and Gudiya. He wrote the
title song of T.V. serial Sailaab. The composition Koi Akelaa Kahaan is another
popular number sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy. His ghazals and various
compositions are sung by almost all the reputed artistes of the
day.
Style and Content
Basically Nida is a poet of various
moods. To him the creative sentiment and inner urge are the sources of poetry.
He thinks that the feeling of a poet is similar to an artiste, like a painter or
a musician. In contrast, he found lyric writing a mechanical job, as he had to
fulfill the demands of the script and the director. Later he accepted the
practical necessity of money, which comes from lyric writing, and helps one to
ponder on creative work.
Multifaceted poet Nida Fazli is a confirmed
optimist. He published his first collection of Urdu poetry in 1969. Childhood
imagery persistently reflects in his poetry as elements of nostalgia. Primary
themes which run through his poetry are - contradictions in life, the search for
purpose, nuances of human relationships, difference between practice and
preaching, the groping for that which is lost and the search for the enemy in
the meaninglessness forest of life etc.
Nida Fazli openly negates the
partition of India. He has written extensively against the communal riots,
scheming politicians and fundamentalism. After the riots in the country in
December 1992, he had to take shelter in his friend’s house due to security
concerns. He shows no favour for either Brahmin or Sheikh because of their
satanic propensities. Disgusted, the poet then wrote,
'Ye Sheikh o
Brahmin hame achchhe nahin lagte Ham jitne hain ye itne bhi sachche nahin
lagte'.
He has been honoured by the National Harmony Award for writing
on communal harmony. He has 24 books to his credit in Urdu, Hindi and Gujarati,
some of which are prescribed as school textbooks in Maharashtra. He received Mir
Taqi Mir award for his autobiographical novel Deewaron Ke Bich from the
Government of M.P. His well-known works are: Mor Naach, Ham Qadam, and Safar Me
Dhoop To Hogi.