Majrooh Sultanpuri
(H/DR Adeeb Ahmed, Karachi)
Asrar ul Hasan Khan (Majrooh's
real name) was born in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh in India in 1919. After an
education in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, he formally studied the Unani system of
medicine and graduated in 1938 as a 'hakim'.
He practiced medicine for a year before he started his career as a full-time
poet. His mentor, or 'ustad'was Jigar Moradabadi. In 1945, he wrote his first
film song "Gam diye mushtaqil...", which was sung by K.L.Saigal and catapulted
him to the forefront of film lyricists, a career which spanned more than five
decades. His contributions to films and to the world of Urdu poetry were
recognized and rewarded with the Dadasahib Phalke award (1994) and the Iqbal
Sammaan (1993) respectively.
Majrooh Sultanpuri was among the foremost poets of modern progressive poetry. He
believed that no great art was possible without social content. Ali Sardar Jafri
in his foreword for Majrooh's book "Never Mind Your Chains" calls him "younger
brother in poetry and struggle". Majrooh was not always pleased with the
association of his poetry with his film work. However, this was more a reaction
to society's hypocritical attitude of looking down on anything connected with
the film world, than with any basis in fact.