By Syed Hasan Zia Rizvi, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: Resurrection through poetry, an event to commemorate the death anniversary of renowned Poet, Kaifi azmi, father of famous actress Shabana azmi, was organized by All India Kaifi Azmi Academy (AIKAA), with the support of Uttar Pradesh Cultural Department and Sponsored by Times of India Group at Sangeet Natak Academy in Lucknow.
The programme commenced with the conferment of Kaifi awards. Waseem Barelvi and Veteran poet Neeraj Saxena were awarded for their valuable work in the field of Urdu and Hindi poetry, respectibely.
Chief Guest of the event was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh yadav, who said on the occasion, “Our government supports every event which promotes culture and literature”.
After the award ceremony, a play based on the poet’s love and life, ‘Kaifi aur Main’ was presented by Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi as the narrators of the story of the play with Jaswinder Singh as the Ghazal Singer. It was directed by Ramesh Talwar and produced by IPTA. Jaswinder singh sang ghazals of Kaifi Azmi along with the narration in his soulful voice which made the mood of the audience, who were enchanted by the play.
The narration described the love story of a great poet and the audience seems to love every bit of it by applauding with ecstasy.
The play was written by Shaukat Azmi, wife of Kaifi Azmi and it described the whole love story. According to her, Azmi wrote first Ghazal at the age of eleven, “Itna to Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade”, it was composed and sung by Begum Akhtar.
“Muddat ke baad usne jo ki lutf ki nigah
jee khush to hua magar ansu nikal pade”.
Real name of Kaifi Azmi was Syed Athar Husain Rizvi, born in Mijwan, Azamgarh UP. A writer, poet and was also the President of Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA). He had written many patriotic songs too like-
“Kar chale hum fida jaan-o-tan sathiyon
Ab tumhare hawale ye watan sathiyon”.
Other guests at the event were Protocol Minister of State, Abhishek Mishra, and the team of Times of India who co-organized the event in association with All India Kaifi Azmi academy (AIKAA).