Sahir Ludhianvi, a great lyricist of Bollywood was different from his contemporary lyricists. He did not praise Khuda (God), Husn (beauty), or Jaam (wine). Instead, he wrote bitter yet sensitive lyrics about the declining values of society; the senselessness of war and politics; and the domination of consumerism over love. His love songs, tinged with sorrow, expressed his realization that there were other, starker concepts more important than love.
In his songs he consistently raised uncomfortable questions and expressed bitter truths. Only he could write the songs "Jinhe naaz hai Hind par vo kahaan hain” against the political leadership of the day or the poem ‘Avaaz-e-Adam’ in which ‘hum bhi dekhenge’ remains a memorable phrase. This led to his migration from Pakistan.
dabegī kab talak āvāz-e-ādam ham bhī dekheñge
rukeñge kab talak jazbāt-e-barham ham bhī dekheñge
chalo yūñhī sahī ye jaur-e-paiham ham bhī dekheñge
dar-e-zindāñ se dekheñ yā urūj-e-dār se dekheñ
tumheñ rusvā sar-e-bāzār-e-ālam ham bhī dekheñge
zarā dam lo ma.āl-e-shaukat-e-jam ham bhī dekheñge
ye zo.am-e-quvvat-e-faulād-o-āhan dekh lo tum bhī
ba-faiz-e-jazba-e-īmān-e-mohkam ham bhī dekheñge
jabīn-e-kaj-kulāhī ḳhaak par ḳham ham bhī dekheñge
mukāfāt-e-amal tārīḳh-e-insāñ kī rivāyat hai
karoge kab talak nāvak farāham ham bhī dekheñge
kahāñ tak hai tumhāre zulm meñ dam ham bhī dekheñge
ye hañgām-e-vidā-e-shab hai ai zulmat ke farzando
sahar ke dosh par gulnār parcham ham bhī dekheñge
tumheñ bhī dekhnā hogā ye aalam ham bhī dekheñge
Close to his heart was the farmer crushed by debt, the soldier has gone to fight someone else's war, the woman forced to sell her body, the youth frustrated by unemployment, and the family living on the street for instance.
Sahir was a communist sympathizer, but he never became a member of the Communist Party of India or an agenda-pushing poet. He always expressed his true feelings. Sahir did something which no film lyricist did before. He transitioned his literary poetry from his book Talkhiyaan (1945) into film songs.
Sahir was hardly 58 and at his creative best when he suffered a massive heart attack. This bard from Ludhiana bid adieu to this world on October 25, 1980
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