Kaifi's life comes alive on stage

LUCKNOW: It was like travelling through the time from the early 20th century to the turn of the 21st, where history was intertwined with personal triumphs and losses. Remembering Kaifi Azmi on his 11th death anniversary, the audiences travelled through the dusty 'kuccha' roads of Mijwan, his native village in Azamgarh, saw him court and marry Shaukat, live his years in Mumbai as a comrade participating in the freedom struggle, heard his best creations as a celebrated lyricist and film writer and finally, saw the end of a man whose health may have failed him, but his spirit never did.And it was all tightly weaved in a play, 'Shaukat and I', which daughter Shabana and son-in-law Javed Akhtar produced as a tribute to the greatest Urdu poet of the 20th Century. The play was brought to the city nawabs by The Times of India in collaboration with All India Kaifi Azami Academy.
With Shabana playing Shaukat and Akhtar Kaifi , the socialist's life and music came alive with singer-composer Jaswinder Singh and his troupe singing some of Azmi's finest compositions. From romantic "Tumhari zulf ki saaye mein shaam' for Naunihal (1967) to poignant "dekhi zamaane ki yaari, bichhde sabhi baari baari" from Kaagaz ke Phool (1959) he showed a range of poetry that enriched the Hindi films. His songs like "Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam" still ring clear, even after 50 years.
But it is not Azmi's life, simply as a poet, writer and lyricist that will be remembered. His final years, the ones he spent partly paralysed, were dedicated to writing as well as to making the lives of his people, better. From a village that once lacked a metalled road connecting it to the highway, it was Azmi's persistence, even when he was wheelchair-bound, that has made Mijwan a model village today .
And If Kaifi Azmi was the toast of the evening, the All India Kaifi Azmi Academy also awarded veteran poets Gopaldas Neeraj and Wasim Barelvi with the Kaifi Azmi Award for their untiring commitment to the social cause. The Academy also awarded Shalini Joshi and Meera, two women entrepreneurs, who run the Khabar Lahariya newspaper in Bundelkhand since 2002.