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Amrita Pritam & Sahir Ludhianvi: Another Point Of View |
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by Gaurang Bhatt, MD |
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I apologize in advance for not posting this, as a comment on Professor Tiwari’s article on Amrita Pritam. The reasons are, though she is erudite, she is averse to controversy and debate (as my attempts with comments to stimulate debate’s failure shows) and there are persons who frequent this website, who believe that any comments on any article should follow the adage that “brevity is the soul of wit”. History is replete with men and women who have been frustrated by their unrequited love or been incarcerated in a relationship, while desiring and craving for another, reciprocated or unreciprocated one. Faiz, who only gave an excuse for not being able to offer the all encompassing love like before, in “Aur bhi gham he Zamaane me mohabbat ke siwaa”, does not even come close to Sahir in his words.
The options in such situations are only two. Either one rebels against the norms of contemporary society and pursues an illicit relationship, heterosexual or homosexual and pays the price of the rebellion with the certainty, arrogance and conviction of Henley’s “Invictus” or one succumbs to the constraints of contemporary cultural convictions and commits suicide, like Alan Turing (perhaps Oscar Wilde) or sublimates life like Meerabai. All of these are acceptable and deserving of praise, sympathy and even condemnation and criticism, depending on points of view about morality and right. The reality is that they are so commonplace, that they deserve mostly a nod and indifference. And what makes Sahir, not only a genius, but in theory at least a man of character, is the other ghazal which became a song in the film “Gumraah”.
For a real retelling of these tragic stories with any relevant meaning, the purpose and message, which is deserving of praise and even retelling is, whether that personal “Samudramanthan” (churning of mind and soul) generated either any Amrit (ambrosia) or Halahal (poison), which has a lasting and important message, emotional and intellectual, or concern for humanity in general. Amrita’s “dil ki kashmokashm” produced no great literature. The despicable sacrifice of young women and their love in the history of humanity, for the benefit of powerful men’s political, pecuniary and nefarious goals, has been the sordid story of humanity for millennia, since recorded history, and still prevalent in Islamic and even Hindu societies. If the apocryphal story of Pritam’s final attempt to make the tryst physically meaningful are true (which is doubtful), it became a farce because of her cop out due to her inability to betray her inherited, customary and conventional principles for the new avant garde norms and Sahir’s physical inability. Sahir was indeed a great poet and an atheist with an attitude, who even looked at the Taj Mahal, as an ostentatious exploitation by Shah Jehan of his riches, to shame us common lovers and our inability to erect such monuments for our own equally great love. Incidentally, consistent with the penchant of many talented men and women and notoriously prevalent in most totally untalented men of an Islamic persuasion, though an ambition of a large majority of all men of all persuasions, is the desire to plant their seed in as many wombs as possible and not only for the laudable purpose of attaining partial immortality. Sudha Malhotra, a talented artist was equally enamored with Sahir. My point in this ruthless criticism is that such things are neither uncommon nor deserving of telling, unless and until the “manmanthan” (churning of the mind) generates a gem, genius, a qauntum leap of civilization or a masterpiece of art, literature or invention. Otherwise, they fall into mere tidbits of useless gossip, which is what all the writings of Shobha De can ever hope of only dreaming to aspire to. |
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03-Oct-2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More by : Gaurang Bhatt, MD | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Views: 8395 Comments: 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments on this Article
tlch 01/13/2014 14:37 PM
Lakshmi 07/15/2013 11:55 AM
dr salman abid 04/05/2013 14:04 PM
Shahgul 12/03/2012 20:01 PM
ansnellimoodu 03/22/2012 15:35 PM
rdashby 10/07/2011 09:16 AM
Prof. Shubha Tiwari 10/04/2011 23:33 PM
Gaurang Bhatt 10/04/2011 10:40 AM
Prof. Shubha Tiwari 10/04/2011 05:29 AM |
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