Jan Nisar Akhtar – Of Romance and Hope | By Anuradha Warrier

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12 thoughts on “Jan Nisar Akhtar – Of Romance and Hope”

N.S.Rajan February 18, 2023 at 8:32 am

“It wasn’t until he wrote songs for Yasmin (1955) that he tasted a small measure of success.”
I saw ‘Yasmin’ during my College days and can vividly recall actor Suresh (miscast in the role against Vyjayanthimala) strumming the Mandolin while singing “Bechain nazar, betaab jigar, yeh dil hai kisika deewana”; Talat doing the playback honours.
I loved this song and would often sing it myself. Although it was the C Ramchandra’s tune and Talat’s rendition that rivetted my focus on it, the lyrics stayed in my sub conscious and the entire song was etched in my mind forever.
Choo Mantar, C I D, Baap re Baap were all films I saw then, and their songs, enriched by entering the ‘Binaca Geet Mala’, became memorable.
This write up on Jan Nisar Akhtar is a splendid bridge for me to recollect those days.
Kudos to Anuradha Warrier for making my day. 👌🏻

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Anu Warrier February 18, 2023 at 9:21 pm
Thank you for the appreciation, Mr Rajan. You made my day. 🙂

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A Bharat February 18, 2023 at 11:09 am

A nice compact write up. Jan Nisar was known more by the large number of popular songs he created than by his name like Majrooh or Sahir. A favorite of O P Nayyar and Bulo C Rani and later by the latter’s Sishya C Arjun his lyrics are aptly described by this writer as being “delicately shaded with the disparate colours of romance”. Two of my favorite Asha songs created by Bulo C Rani and C arjun respectively perfectly illustrate that phrase-
“Mast adayen mast kharam”(Haseena ) and “Aye ho to jaaneka bahana na milega” (Main Aur Mera bhai”

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Anu Warrier February 18, 2023 at 9:20 pm
Thank you for the appreciation, Mr Bharat.

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A Bharat February 18, 2023 at 8:39 pm

one small correction. Prem Parbat was released and there was an a nomination for Filmfare award. The prints have later been destroyed and not available for viewing.

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Anuradha Warrier Post authorFebruary 18, 2023 at 9:29 pm
Is that so? You may be right; all that I read about the film suggested that it had been a casualty of the fight between the financiers and producer. I will make the change in the article accordingly. Thank you.

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Songs Of Yore February 20, 2023 at 10:46 pm

Anu,
A very nice post on a great master. For good many songs his name was tagged with OP Nayyar, which means he had his share of commercial success. But the basic question remains: What plays a more important role, the words or the music? ‘Pyasa’ which established Sahir Ludhiyanavi is not a good counter-example. There are many trite lyrics of good poets being turned into superhit songs. Such songs are there in your list too.

I can’t help associating this family with an interesting controversy. ‘Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hun’ was thought to be a ghazal of Bahadur Shah Zafar for ages. Some years ago Javed Akhtar ‘discovered’ this ghazal in the old papers of his grandfather Muztar Khairabadi. I don’t know if the Urdu Adab has finally settled the Na kisi ki-question in favour of Javed Akhtar’s claim. But if he ‘discovered’ it for the first time in his grandfather’s trunk (in 2015?), how did it enter the film ‘Laal Quila’ (1960)? I discussed it long ago on my blog when SSW also entered the discussion. I also mentioned that Jan Nisar Akhtar was a well-established lyricist/poet and he would not have allowed misappropriation of credit. Would you be able to throw some light on this?
AK

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Anu Warrier February 21, 2023 at 12:07 am
What plays a more important role, the words or the music?
I think Khayyam said it best when he was complimented on his beautiful compositions [and I paraphrase here]: “You call my songs beautiful, but they become beautiful only when the lyricist writes beautiful lyrics, the musicians play the notes, and the singer adds the magic of his voice. No one person can take credit for a song.”

Very subjectively, it is the melody and singing that pulls me in, but it is the lyrics that keep me going back to listen to a song. Sometimes, one is better than the other. We have all heard beautiful melodies that have been spoiled by bad singing; we have heard wonderful vocals on a great composition, but the lyrics are nothing to write home about; or the lyrics and singing are wonderful but the composition sounds like the music director dashed it off in his sleep… But when everything – composition, music, lyrics, singing – meld together, then, to me, that song is a classic. 🙂

Short answer? I don’t think one is more important than the other, especially not for a Hindi film song.

Re: Na kisi ki aa.nkh ka nuur hun, I’m not knowledgeable enough to form an opinion, but I do know that even before 2015 when Javed Akhtar claimed the credit for his grandfather, there was enough doubt raised about the ghazal’s authorship in Urdu literary circles. Here is a good analysis of the question of credit in this article in the Business Standard: https://tinyurl.com/yc3r8tm3

Rekhta credits it to Muztar Khairabadi, but I don’t know whether it was done before or after Javed Akhtar’s claim. However, this is not the only ghazal with questionable antecedents;another very famous ghazal that is attributed to Bahadur Shah Zafar:
Umr-e-daraaz maa.ng ke laa.ii thii chaar din
Do aarzuu me.n kaT ga.e do intizaar me.n
– is actually written by Seemab Akbaraabadi.

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Songs Of Yore February 21, 2023 at 9:04 am

Anu,
Thanks a lot for your response and for sharing the article. It is an interesting story, these papers travelled to a Khairabadi’s friend to Jan Nisar Akhtar to Javed Akhtar, until he got time to browse through these papers and was wonderstruck to stumble upon ‘Na kisi ki’. The article concludes, it is advantage Khairabadi for the time being, but I remain a doubter.

Rekhta does credit it to Muztar and mentions his compilation ‘Khirman’ (2015), published by Javed Akhtar (2015). To my mind, there is a bit of circularity here.

This controversy is similar to the Bhasa-question (भास प्रश्न) in Sanskrit. Known as the First Playright of Sanskrit, his works were lost until Mahamahopadhyay Pt. Ganpat Shastri discovered some manuscripts in Travancore royals’ library in Trivandrum and got them published in 1913 as ‘Bhasa Plays’. This discovery was made 2000 years after Bhasa. In this case there was no third party attribution. Based on similarity of style and other factors the Sanskrit literary world has generally accepted these 13 plays as Bhasa’s. A very well-known one is ‘Swapnadatta’. Another one is ‘Charudatt’. Based on the same story Shudrak later wrote a more accomplished play, ‘Mrichchhakatikam’.

Anu, you can be proud that a scholar from your state has this singular achievement. 🙂

Re: Umre daraaz maang ke. The maqta goes:

Kitna hai badnaseeb ‘Zafar’ dafn ke liye
Do gaz zameen bhi na mili koo-e-yaar mein

But I find the controversy on this too quite interesting. It has prompted me to pick the brains of some of my knowledgeable friends.
AK

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Anuradha Warrier Post authorFebruary 21, 2023 at 9:25 am
AK, I think, as the article posits, and as eminent Urdu scholars have theorized, there was always a doubt about Na kisi ki aankh ka nuur huun being Zafar’s. In fact, when it was first collated and published – not in a magazine – but as a literary work, the curator filed it under ‘Alleged’. Unless there’s another claimant, it appears that academia and literary circles acknowledge Khairabad’s authorship. I would assume that the claim would have been thoroughly vetted.

As far as Umr-e-daraaz is concerned – you misunderstood me. I’m not saying that Lagta nahin hai dil mera was not written by Zafar. It is this particular couplet:
Umr-e-daraaz maa.ng ke laa.ii thii chaar din
Do aarzuu me.n kaT ga.e do intizaar me.n that is usually inserted into this ghazal that is Akbarabadi’s. The other four couplets are indeed Zafar’s.

(I smiled at the Bhasa story.)

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Songs Of Yore February 22, 2023 at 7:49 am

Anu,
I had posted my doubts in a somewhat strident tone. As I had indicated, I have since sounded some of my knowledgeable friends, who in turn checked up with Urdu scholars. Now I am more tempered. I have to thank you for making me more aware.
AK

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Anuradha Warrier Post authorFebruary 22, 2023 at 8:10 am
You are welcome. 🙂

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Jan Nisar Akhtar – Of Romance and Hope

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