On Saturday, Ashwin and I went to watch ‘Kaifi Aur Main’ (Kaifi and I), Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar‘s tribute to Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Kaifi, Shabana’s parents. Based on Shaukat’s book ‘Yaad Ki Raah Guzzar’ (Down Memory Lane) and Kaifi’s own poetry and interviews, it was a wonderful evening in memory of a strange and wonderful man.
Ashwin, unfortunately, found the Urdu too difficult, so all he could do was to watch my delight (hardly entertainment, I fear)… It did help that the performance was at the St John’s auditorium, round the corner from home – everything one does/not do in Bangalore these days is a locational hazard.
The evening had been billed as a theatrical presentation by IPTA Mumbai, but as Deepa Punjwani points out in her review of the performance in Mumbai, it was not quite theatre. It was quite a mehfil (particularly with Jaswinder Singh’s music), and certainly a tribute. Both to Kaifi and to Shaukat, interestingly. For instance, Shaukat remembers how she thought the feminist in Kaifi was speaking directly to her, when she first heard his poem ‘Aurat’ (Woman):
Rut badal daal agar falna foolana hai tujhe
Uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe
(Change the season to grow, to flourish
Wake up, my love, my soul; walk with me).
Then in another moment, she talks about fighting to save her child (Shabana) from being aborted, because the comrades in the commune she and Kaifi lived in were worried they would not have the means to support the family. As Javed said in an interview to Swati Anand (Times of India, Bangalore, July 30, p. 15), “So we don’t know if Shabana was born because of communism or in spite of it!”
At this performance anyhow, I felt the greater drama came from Javed’s rendition of a passionate, progressive human being who strode, rather than straddled, the worlds of revolution and poetry, with insight, irony and craftsmanship. Shabana was, well, Shabana (as she is apt to be in most performances; mesmerisingly herself) and her (in?)voluntary ‘wah wah-s’ and ‘kya baat hai-s’ tended to break any possible suspension of disbelief.
Javed was particularly deft in the humourous moments, including those which quirkily reflected on himself: Kaifi reportedly said that lyrics being written after the tune is composed – a Bollywood practice – is like digging a pit in a cemetry and then looking for the body that will fit it! Another (more moving) metaphor was when Kaifi reflected bitterly on the stroke that paralysed him: he felt ‘imprisoned’ like Sita, and wished a Rama, or even a Ravana, would rid him of the pain. I may have transliterated that badly, but the thought transcended all those convenient – and generally inaccurate – categorisations that we tend to make in this country around ‘community’, ‘language’ and ‘mythology’.
Ultimately, the protagonist that really sparkled and shone in the performance was the language itself. While my Urdu is nothing to blog about, the music of the words themselves was enough to give meaning where a dictionary might have been found wanting. It may not have been theatre, but it was poetry, it was a song.
In Javed Akhtar’s own words for Kaifi that ended the evening, ‘Ajeeb Admi Tha Woh’ (He Was A Strange Man):
Mohabbaton ka geet tha, baghawaton ka raag tha
Kabhi woh sirf phool tha, kabhi woh sirf aag tha
(He was a song of love, a rhythm of rebellion
Sometimes he was a flower, and sometimes he was fire).
Sounds lovely! Wish I could have seen it. Nice post.
The tribute sounds mesmerising. I am neither Indian nor speak Urdu. But I was wondering do you know where I can find Shaukat Azmi’s book (memoirs’s), Down the memory lane ? I read somewhere that it’s been published by star publications. It’s been impossible to locate here in the UK. I feel envious of the culture,civilization,poetry, dialogue.It is sad that the language barrier keeps such treasures from the rest of the world. I wonder if my community will ever stop aping the west or the fundamentalist and just be still.Look inwards. Listen and Be.
Your writing of the night was charming
Hafsi, thank you so much for your comment. I’ll ask around about Shaukat Kaifi’s book and let you know as soon as I have any information. You know, I’m not sure the language barriers can’t be transcended, so long as we have the generosity to move beyond the little boxes we tend to live and think in. As you have done. I appreciate your writing in more than I can say.
Here’s some information on Yaad Ki Raah Guzzar for all those interested (including, of course, Hafsi!):
In Urdu it’s published by Star Publications ph.no 011- 23257220 contact
person Mr. Verma; starpub@satyam.net.in or amanvarma@starpublic.com
In Hindi by Rajkamal Prakashan ph.no. 011-23274463 contact person Mahesh Dutt; editorial@rajkamalprakashan.com
It’s being translated into English by Nasreen Rehman as Memory Lane; to be published by Zubaan Books – http://www.zubaanbooks.com – by the end of 2006.
And yes, I did manage to contact Shabana Azmi herself for this information; so much gratitude to her and her staff for their generosity (and off-stage squeals and squeaks for getting an email from SHABANA AZMI!!!). 🙂
I only knew Kaifi Azmi as a lyricist of Urdu movies made in India till I got to see the prformance of Kaifi aur Mein by Shabana Azmi, Jawaid Akhtar and Juswinder Singh.It was than that I came to know about the person Kaifi was.
My wife and my daughter were equally moved by this discovery about the life and personality of Kaifi.It was a woderful evening at Roy Thompson Hall, Toronto.
Kudos to Shabana who is an Activist herself, Jawaid and Juswinder Singh. There could not be a best tribute to Kaifi Azmi than this.
Thanks to Rehana who made it a point that we don’t miss this performance.
We do not realize how a person has reached the high pedestal where they are, it is great to know where and how Kaifi Azmi started his career. It is a story which can teach a lesson to all of us that believing in yourself and persistance can take one to high places.
Thanks to all those who brought this to Toronto.
I missed the Kaifi aur Main performance in Bangalore this summer, even though I too, was around the corner from St. John’s auditorium, however, I consoled myself saying Shabana and Javed will surely come to Toronto (where I live.) I was delighted when it was announced that were indeed, coming to Toronto. We watched it last night. It was a Class Act. A moving tribute from one artist to another who also happen to be father/daughter and fil/sil.
We enjoyed every minute of the show.
Dear Shabnam, Rehana and Abid: Great to know you caught Kaifi aur Main in Toronto (even if Shabnam missed it when it was round the corner!). And thank you for dropping by here to tell us about it.
Dear Friends, I stumbled upon this website while looking for material on Kaifi and I feel deeply moved by the comments of various visitors to the site. Shabana Apa is very dear to me and people of Javed Saheb’s mindset are becoming rare to our times, alas. If I ever had to describe an ideal Indian, I wont hesitate a second to name him. It was of course immense pleasure and sheer faith of Shabana Apa that kept me going when I was working on “Yaad Ki Rahguzar” and I am thankful to all of you for your wonderful words for Shaukat Amma. Our Shaukat Amma is a treasure, one of those who never get old. God bless you all.
Dear Mahesh: Thank you for ‘stumbling’ by, and leaving this lovely and inspiring comment!
Hey, do you have shabana azmi’s email address? we want to invite to our college, st stephen’s college, for a discussion of FIRE.
hi, we are organising the Prabasi bharatiya divas 2008 on 7th- 9th January, in which we would like to invite Ms. Shabana Azmi as one of the panelist for a session on woman empowerment and leadership. need to have her email address please. regards, rakhi
Dear Rakhi and everyone else who might want to get in touch with Shabana Azmi: I am sorry but my email address for her is outdated, and seems to be bouncing. You will have to find some other way of contacting her, I am afraid.
It has been a privilege to be a transient postbox for Shabanaji, but that’s what I am: transient. 🙂