The Man, The Poet:
There have been plays about Sahir Ludhianvi, but they have been about his romance with Amrita Pritam, or there have plays about Pritam in which Sahir has appeared, Danish Husain has directed Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon, about Sahir the man, the poet, the lyricist, the rebel. One would expect the name of Sahir to sell out tickets, but it was a revelation to watch the audience sing and hum along, applaud at the right places and pay silent attention when required.
The playwrights, Mir Ali Husain and Himanshu Bajpai have unearthed little known nuggets about Sahir’s life, his entry and rise in Hindi films, and his lifelong compassion for the underprivileged. Husain has kept the format simple, the storytelling is sombre or playful as the episode being narrated, by Vrinda Vaid ‘Hayat’, and Srijonee Bhattacharjee, and Husain in the role of Sahir.
When there is talk about his struggle and eventual rise in films, the successful pairing with SD Burman, then Bhattacharjee and Shantanu Herlekar (also the music arranger) sing some of those unforgettable numbers, and the audience joins in without being asked to, amazingly conversant with the lyrics of the songs that are landmarks in Hindi cinema music.
Apart from the romantic, the sad and happy songs, Sahir wrote for the worker and the farmer; he wrote protest poetry and recited in before the powers that be. The times were such that he was heard and respected for his views.
With that kind of success, comes arrogance, eccentricity and a superiority complex. When Burman balked at working with Sahir, because he got the more credit for the success of a song, Sahir believed he could pick and choose who he would work with, and the composer he selected (like Khayyam and Jaidev) would make hit songs with his lyrics.
There is mention of Amrita Pritam, of course, but more like a footnote. Sahir never married; the only woman he loved was his brave mother, who protected him from his abusive father. If there was a muse who inspired him to write such exquisitely poetic film songs, it is a well-guarded secret.
The play is a collaboration between The Hoshruba Repertory and Amita Talwar’s Art For Causes. The costumes and sets were styled and designed by Himani Mehta Dehlvi, the great painter Tayyab Mehta’s daughter.
Husain buffs and polish every anecdote, every story till it is shines, and the Urdu lines are anyway music to the ears, and then there is the actual music, that evokes nostalgia in full measure. (The old photographs projected bring, show some of the people associated with Sahir, a nice touch, especially for the new generation). This is what popular film music used to be like, and what depths of discordant hell it has fallen into now. With this production, Danish Husain has a big hit on his hands!
(This piece first appeared in mumbaitheatreguide.com)
