Noted actress Shabana Azmi, hosted an event on Friday night to commemorate his father, Kaifi Azmi. The occasion was the poet’s 100th birth anniversary and this was just the beginning of a year-long celebration.
It was a magical evening as a bevy of celebrities came together to mark the beginning of the centenary celebrations of legendary poet and activist Kaifi Azmi.
A monogram on @AzmiKaifi by Prof AA Fatimi for Sahitya Akademi was released on 8th Jan 29 in Delhi pic.twitter.com/vLc8UNVFH9
— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) January 10, 2019
Shabana Azmi read out a nazm by her father which shows us how the poet-lyricist was so far ahead of his times when it came to women’s rights.
@AzmiShabana reads out a nazm by @AzmiKaifi
which shows us how the poet-lyricist was so far ahead of his times when it came to women's rights! pic.twitter.com/jZDULXkA6x— Yögésh Leelā Pawār (@powerofyogesh) January 10, 2019
Standing Ovation for Kaifi aur Main in Delhi. Kick start to Kaifi Sab's Birth centenary celebrations. #kaifiazmi @AzmiKaifi @iptaindia @Rekhta @urduduniya pic.twitter.com/nm3efu8hy5
— Jaswinder Singh (@jaswinderworld) January 10, 2019
On this occasion, Azmi’s family members, Baba Azmi, Tanvi Azmi, Javed Akhtar, and Farhan Akhtar along with renowned Bollywood personalities like Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Poonam Dhillon, Madhu Chopra, Divya Dutta, Kanwaljit Singh, Neena Gupta, Tannishtha Chatterji, and Aditi Rao Hydari were present.
Mushairas, plays, seminars, pen festival, and three book releases have been planned during this one-year celebration in India as well as abroad. The celebration will start from 13th of January 2019 at NCPA, Mumbai with a special event called ‘Raag Shayari’.
‘Raag Shayari’ will be a special occasion of music and Kaifi Sahab’s poetry starring Javed Akhtar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, and Shabana Azmi and directed by Feroz Abbas Khan with Production Design by Anuradha Parikh. The show will be held on January 13 at the NCPA and on 14 at St. Andrews Auditorium.
Kaifi Azmi was the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Azmi, Pirzada Qasim, Jon Elia, and others participated in some of the most memorable mushairas of the twentieth century.
Azmi wrote his first Ghazal titled, “Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade” at the age of 11, and recited it in a mushaira, in front of some famous poets where he was appreciated by the president of the mushaira, Mani Jaisi.
He worked as a lyricist in the film industry and his famous songs are, ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, ‘Haqeeqat’, ‘Arth’ and ‘Heer Ranjha’. Azmi won several literary and poetry awards for his works.