Remembering Kaifi Azmi, the man whose genius went beyond films.
“Kar Chale Hum Fida Jan-o-Tan Saathiyo , Ab Tumhare Havale Watan Saathiye”, wrote Kaifi Azmi for Chetan Anand’s 1964 film “Haqeeqat”. The patriotic song, immortalized by the inimitable voice of Mohammad Rafi, inspires everyone in the country on the Independence Day and the Republic Day. His song “Chalte Chalte Yunhi Koi Mil Gaya Thha” (“Pakeezah”) captures all possible elements of old world romance, uncorrupted by the speed of our information age. His poetic voice could even deconstruct the beautiful action of smile in songs like “Tum Itna Jo Muskara Rahe Ho” (“Arth”).
But there is much more to Kaifi than his songs written for films. There are two other very important dimensions of Kaifi’s work which may not be known to the millions who sing his timeless lyrics daily. His commitment to socialist ideology and his large corpus of poetry in important collections namely, “Jhankar” (1944), “Akhiri Shab (1947), “Awara Sajde” (1974) and “Iblis Ki Majlis-e-Shori” (1983) make Kaifi a poet and a revolutionary for all seasons. To this can be added his impressive appearance as an actor in Saeed Mirza’s film “Naseem” (1995), his work as a storywriter in a number of films mostly made in the fifties, and his touching dialogues in M. S. Sathyu’s “Garam Hava” (1973).
In Marxist view of literature content is considered more important than form. As a poet Kaifi Azmi knew too well the value of form. However, poetry appears too serious a thing for Kaifi Azmi not to have a purpose. In his foreword to Kaifi’s first collection of poems titled ”Jhankar”, Sajjad Zaheer, one of the pioneers of Progressive Writers’ Movement, praised Kaifi’s support to communism, Soviet Union, revolution and referred to his praise of Stalin. Sajjad Zaheer distinguished the progressive aspect of Kaifi’s poetry from the work of certain writers who were presenting nudity, sex and obscenity in the name of progressive thought. If Sajjad Zaheer finds his expression “simple and direct”, decades later Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in his foreword to Kaifi’s Sahitya Akademi award -winning work “Awara Sajde”, would praise him for his frankness and his avoidance of all artificiality in his expression.
Marx has written that “Men make their own history but not of their own free will; not under circumstances they themselves have chosen but under the given and inherited circumstances with which they are directly confronted”. In his famous essay “My Poetry and I” Kaifi Azmi narrates how the seeds of rebellion were planted early in his childhood, how he inherited his attitude for the love of his country and how he grew up in an atmosphere free from the menace of communalism. Kaifi’s pride in his grandfather’s resistance against the cultivation of indigo in his small village, his own participation in Swadeshi movement in his childhood, his organisation of a protest against a racist British collector by making black flags, his fascination for Gandhi and Nehru and his desire to go to jail for a cause were all important formative influences on his work.
About his commitment to socialist ideology Kaifi said, “I was born in colonial India, grew old in independent India and will die in a socialist India. And this is not the dream of a madman”. His commitment to a socialist society gave him hope; it shaped his optimistic outlook. It influenced his poetry. The common man became his prime concern all his life.
Thus his poem “Telengana” is his response to Telengana Rebellion of the peasants against the feudal system. This rebellion also inspired Krishan Chander, another progressive writer, to write “Jab Khet Jage”. The rebellion, led by communists, greatly interested Kaifi because of its potential to overthrow ruthless rulers. Much as a formalistic reading is denounced in Marxist theory, the poem can be read as a people’s movement against authority anywhere in the world simply on the basis of its language. The revolutionary fervour captured by the poet’s words gives the poem its rhythm.
The common man who participates in specific rebellions like Telengana also becomes Kaifi’s universal common man in a number of poems. This common man has seen exploitation and injustice but he never lost hope. His poem titled “Makan” exhorts the common man to remain hopeful in the midst of problems. The common man is also the subject of his poem titled “Bangladesh”. This common man seen as a mass cannot be defeated by any power. He only has history but no geography. It is interesting to note that Kaifi often seems to take a stand against geographical boundaries.
This common man with his history of injustice and exploitation is also the subject of “Ibn-e-Marium” (1965). The speaker in this poem does not reject different views about Christ, but he is certain in his mind that he likes Christ for his honesty. The honesty of Christ is sharply contrasted with a world which is full of lies and violence. In a remarkable turn of irony, much like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the poem develops a concrete political context in its climax.
Kaifi celebrates man’s faculty of reason in a number of his poems. True to his Marxist ideology he realised that reason could fight dogma and obscurantism. His poem titled “Nehru” starts with some predictable and hackneyed similes like ‘a fountain in desert’ and ‘lamp post in sea’. However, what turns the entire poem around is a very original simile ‘like a thought in superstition’. This power to use one’s mind rather than received ideas, has always landed the thinking minds in trouble whether it was Socrates or Christ. Nehru stands for reason in this poem. The message of the poem is that though reason has faced stiff opposition down the ages, it keeps growing in size.
Even his broken heart finds its consolation in reason. The poem titled “Awara Sajde” articulates his anguish at the division in the Communist Party. A dream appeared shattered and he did not know where to turn.
It is the beauty of Kaif’s poetry that many poems, though written in response to an immediate context, acquire a different context in our times. His poem “Pir Tasme Pa”(1970) is the poet’s response to man’s landing on the moon. But it is not the landing as such but the irrational responses to this momentous event that Kaifi the rationalist finds ridiculous. Ludicrous accounts like the existence of television in ancient times were also heard. In fact, Kaifi’s poem warns against a wrong reading of the history of science.
This week Aligarh Muslim University, in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi, remembered the contribution of Kaifi Azmi to literature, culture and society in a one-day seminar. Apart from a host of distinguished academics who discussed Kaifi’s work from various angles, the seminar was attended by Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar who dwelt on some lesser-known aspects of Kaifi Azmi.
There was never any mismatch between Kaifi Azmi’s words and actions, said speaker after speaker at the seminar. Shabana narrated how her family lived in a commune in her childhood along with eight families sharing one bathroom. Later Kaifi’s house always had its door open for everyone. It was never locked, revealed Javed Akhtar. Kaifi also taught Shabana the virtue of patience. When Shabana wanted her father’s permission to act in films, his advice to her was to be the best in the world at whatever she wanted to do. It was this enlightened self that is reflected in his famous poem “Aurat” in which he sees the destiny of a woman not in her dependence on man but in walking alongside him: “Uth Meri Jaan, Mere Saath hi Chalna Hai Tujhe”.
Mohammad Asim Siddiqui – (The author teaches English at Aligarh Muslim University.)
The Article was first published on The Hindu.
A poet, a revolutionary – An article from THE HINDU