Ali Sardar Jafri – Famous Urdu poet who received the prestigious Jnanpith Award in 1997

Ali Sardar Jafri (1913 – 2000) was a great writer of Urdu language. Best known as an Urdu poet, he has also penned lyrics for a few Bollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a recipient of Jnanpith Award in 1997, Padma Shri in 1967 and Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1971. He presided the first Progressive Writers’ Movement held in Lucknow in 1936, and has been associated with several social, political and literary movements. Most of his works were published between 1948 and 1978 which include eight poetry collections.

His college days fully involved with Students’ politics

Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh. His younger days were spent in his hometown where he completed his early education and he joined the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University in 1933. In those days he was associated with students’ politics and was affiliated to Communist party for which he was expelled in 1936. Two years later he completed his graduation from Zakir Husain College, New Delhi, and later joined Lucknow University for his Master’s degree. However he got involved with politics again, this time with Indian National Congress and wrote war poems for which he got arrested in early 1940s. He was the Secretary of the university’s Students’ Union, and his studies also ended abruptly.

He published his first book in short stories, not poems

As a writer he first published a collection of short stories – Manzil in 1938. He published his first anthology of poems – Parvaz in 1944. He came to prominence as an Urdu poet in the late 1940s. Nai Duniya Ko Salaam, Khoon Ki Lakeer, Amn Ka Sitara, Asia Jaag Utha, Patthar Ki Deewar, Lahu Pukarta Hai, Ek Khwab Aur, Pairahan-i-Sharar, Awadh ki khak-i-haseen, Subhe Farda, Mera Safar and Sarhad are among his major published poetry works. Apart from being closely associated with writing for 5 decades, he also edited some works of Kabir, Mir, Ghalib and Meera. He has also authored a couple of plays and TV serials and also produced one documentary film.

Ali Sardar Jafri – Some interesting and less known facts

1. 50 years after he was expelled from Aligarh Muslim University for his communist ideologies as a student, the university conferred an honorary doctorate (D.Litt.) on him in 1986.

2. He penned lyrics for Bollywood films like Dharti Ke Lal (1946) and Pardesi (1957), and a few more.

3. During his historic bus journey to Lahore in 1999, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee carried a copy of Jafri’s last work, Sarhad and gifted it to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on the occasion of Lahore summit. Ironically, the poet passed away the following year aged 89.

4. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee invited him to join his trip to Lahore. But his falling health didn’t allow him to accept the invitation for the long trip.