Unforgettable love story of Sahir, Amrita Pritam & Imroz

 The blog is about the unforgettable love story of Sahir, Amrita and Imroz. Love is the most powerful emotion. When this most powerful emotion rises above the intellect & reason and takes the imagination using the sanctity of its emotion to form poetry, it becomes divine. Who knows it better than the  ‘Sahir Ludhianvi’

Sahir Ludhianvi was a temperamental poet, who was more concerned about the real issues than praising the beauty of women. He would rather highlight the plight of the woman rather than praise her lips and eyes. For example, he would not use the words like the contemporary poets’ Chhalkaye jaam aaiye aapki aankhon ke naam, hothon ke naam “  or Chho lene do Nazaq honton Ko , Kucch aur Nahi hai Jaam hai ye… But he would prefer highlighting their problem to be addressed. For instance

Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Mardo ne use bazar diya
Jab ji chaha masla kuchla
Jab ji chaha dutkar diya
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Tulati hai kahi dinaro me
Bikti hai kahi bazaro me
Nangi nachavai jati hai
Aiyyasho ke darbaro me
Ye vo beizzat chiz hai jo
Bat jati hai izzatdaro me
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko



Mardo ke liye har zulm ravaan
Aurat ke liye rona bhi khata
Mardo ke liye lakho seje
Aurat ke liye bas ek chita
Mardo ke liye har aish ka haq
Aurat ke liye jina bhi saza
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Jin hotho ne inko pyar kiya
Un hotho ka vyapar kiya
Jis kokh me inka jism dhala
Us kokh ka karobar kiya
Jis tan se uge kopal ban kar
Us tan ko zalil-o-khar kiya
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko



Mardo ne banayi jo rasme
Unako haq ka farmaan kaha
Aurat ke zindaa jalne ko
Kurbani aur balidaan kaha
Kismat ke badle roti di
Usako bhi ehsaan kaha
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Sansaar ki har ek besharmi
Gurbat ki god me palti hai
Chakalo me hi aa ke rukati hai
Faako se jo raah nikalati hai
Mardo ki havas hai jo aksar
Aurat ke paap me dhalti hai
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko



Aurat sansaar ki qismat hai
Fir bhi taqdir ki heti hai
Avatar payambar janati hai
Phir bhi shaitan ki beti hai
Ye vo badaqismat maa hai jo
Beto ki sez pe leti hai
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Mardo ne use bazar diya
Jab ji chaha masla kuchla
Jab ji chaha dutkar diya
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko.

His Concern for women was because he loved his mother anything else as he was raised by a single mother as she got separated from her drunkard husband and single-handedly managed Sahir’s upbringing.  Sahir hated his father and loved his mother immensely.

Now Unmasking our political system, let us take more meaningful words from his pen,” "Ye kuche, ye nilaam ghar dilakashi ke, Ye lutate hue kaaravaa zindagi ke, Kahaan hai, kahaan hai muhafiz khudi ke, Jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahaan ha.. kahan Hai kahan hai”

Sahir Loved too many women in his life but never got seriously involved to form a relationship. It is like borrowing a Kiss from too many women but never returning to any one of them. So much has been written about his unusual love for Amrita Pritam. Even before Amrita Pritam, an unknown girl came into his life and because of his temperamental nature, he could not marry her. The girl got married to someone else. Sahir too was invited to her marriage. Sahir not only accepted her invitation but produced one of his best poetry instantly. Which was as follows

Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayen ham dono

na main tumse koi umiid rakhuun dilnavaazi  ki

na tum merii taraf dekho ghalat andaaz nazaron se

na mere dil ki dhadkan ladkhadaaye meri baaton mein

na zaahir ho tumhaari kashmkash ka raaz nazaron se

Come, let us become strangers once again.

I shall no longer maintain hopes of compassion from you

Nor shall you gaze at me with your deceptive glances. 

Nor shall your glances reveal the secret of your torment.

The poetry was used later in the the1963 movie " Gumrah"

 

Amrita Pritam, the great Novelist had a sapiosexual crush on Sahir. Both were intellectually inclined individuals who admired each other’s creativity. Amrita was ready to leave her husband ’ Pritam’ but Sahir could never gather the courage to accept her in her life as his mother had a strong role in his life. Somewhere, Amrita knew that Sahir had a commitment phobia and his love for her was not as intense. Elsewhere, she wrote to him, “Maine toot ke Pyaar kiya tum se/Kya tumne bhi utna kiya mujh se? (I loved you wholeheartedly." Did you also love me that much?"

 

Such was an intense love of Amrita for Sahir, that she would collect the leftover cigarettes taken by Sahir and start smoking them for having been touched by his lips and thus she got addicted to smoking and became a chain smoker.  Sahir too showed the same sentiments for Amrita Pritam. Once Jaidev noticed a dirty and used cup lying on the coffee table. He immediately suggested that it needed to be cleaned. “Don’t you dare touch it,” Ludhianvi shot back. “Amrita drank tea out of it the last time she was here.” Like his poetic words, Sahir gave a beautiful turn to their unfinished love and start moving ahead.

The story of this love is depicted in her autobiography, Rasidi Ticket (Revenue Stamp). When another woman, singer Sudha Malhotra came into Sahir's life, Amrita found solace in the companionship of the artist and writer Imroz. Imroz was 10 years younger than her.

 She spent the last forty years of her life with Imroz as a live-in partner loving Sahir, who also designed most of her book covers and made her the subject of his several paintings. Their life together is also the subject of a book, Amrita Imroz: A Love Story.

 

Imroz wrote that he loved Amrita Pritam, but in turn, she loved Sahir. When she was riding her scooter of Imroz, He felt that she wrote on his back ‘ Sahir” but Imroz never asked any questions to Amrita as if there were no conditions in their relationship. Amrita knew that it was not good for Imroz to still love her when he knows that she loves Sahir more than anything else. She asked Imroz once, “Why have you met me so late?’ Imroz said in reply “maybe, I come of age late and the money too came late,” and both laughed together.



 

On 25 October 1980, at the age of fifty-nine, Sahir died of sudden cardiac death. Amrita Pritam died in her sleep on 31 October 2005 at the age of 86 in New Delhi, after a long illness.  She was survived by her partner Imroz, daughter Kandla, son Navraj Kwatra, daughter-in-law Alka, and her grandchildren, Kartik, Noor, Aman and Shilpi.

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