Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; December 19, 2018)

January 14, 2019, will mark the centenary birth anniversary of renowned Urdu poet, writer and activist Kaifi Azmi. To commemorate the occasion, his daughter, actress Shabana Azmi has planned year-long celebrations, which will include mushairas, plays, seminars, a pen festival and three book releases.

It will start with ‘Raag Shayari’, a special evening of music and Kaifi’s poetry starring Ustad Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Akhtar and Shabana. While Shankar will sing a selection of Kaifi’s poems, Javed will recite them in Urdu and Shabana will translate them in English. “It was Javed’s idea. For Kaifi, the central point is poetry. Through this programme, the attempt is to make his poetry accessible to people who don’t necessarily understand Urdu. That is the key point. With Shankar singing it, Zakir interpreting it and Javed reciting the original poetry, it would become an experience to cherish and have an archival value,” says Shabana.

Being sensitive
The award-winning actress has been planning the event and putting together the schedule for the year-long celebrations since January. “It’s important for me that the 100th year is celebrated with sensitivity and respect for the kind of work he did. Obviously, there will be many programmes throughout the year created especially for the centenary celebration, but ‘Raag Shayari’ will be the premiere event. The people on board are those with whom I have a deep emotional connect. I have worked with Feroz (Abbas Khan), who helmed Tumhari Amrita, for so many years. He is directing this show, too. I have a lot of respect for the aesthetics of Anuradha Parikh, who is doing the production design. Zakir has given the music of some of the films that I have done, his father Ustad Allah Rakha and Kaifi were friends and worked together. Now, their children are coming together for this tribute,” says the actress.

Tribute to an icon
Talking about Shankar being a part of the event, she says the singer’s maiden single, Breathless, was written by Javed and it was also the first music video that Farhan and Zoya Akhtar creatively did together. Shabana’s brother Baba Azmi was the cameraman while Bijon Das Gupta, who is their family friend, did the production design.

“‘Raag Shayari’ is about great artistes paying a tribute to a person they admire and love,” she says. When asked if there were any plans to televise the event, Shabana informs they didn’t want commerce to enter into it. “It was to create an evening to cherish, to have archival value, so we haven’t thought about it. But, we will surely record it,” she says. The first show will be held next year on January 13 at NCPA (Nariman Point), the second at St Andrew’s (Bandra) on December 14, on Kaifi’s birth anniversary while the third will be on December 17 in Kolkata to commemorate Javed’s birthday.

Besides this, on February 2, 100 special edition fountain pens will be launched. “The only material thing my father used was a Mont Blanc fountain pen and his communist party card, so it is befitting that a pen is released in his name,” reveals Shabana.

A documentary, Kaifinama, directed by Sumantra Ghosal is in the works. They will also stage a play Kaifi Aur Main, which will have Javed essaying Kaifi while Shabana will enact her mother, Shaukat. “Jaswinder Singh will be singing my father’s songs and poems, and we are planning many performances,” shares the actress. A retrospective of his films like Heer Raanjha, which the celebrated poet wrote in verse, Naseem, in which he acted, and Garam Hawa, a definitive film on Partition that won the National Award, will be held.

A 300-seater Kaifi Azmi Kala Kendra or auditorium designed by M S Sathyu will be unveiled in Lucknow where the activist spent a major part of his life. “There is also a great need for an auditorium there and this one is like no other,” she says proudly. At his birthplace, Mijwan, where he founded an NGO, which is now run by Shabana, a film on her father, will be shown. “What will be more special is that children from our school and college will be involved in several shows. Kaifi looked upon the youth. He had great expectations and hope from them,” she says.

The celebrations will end with the Mijwan fashion show at the end of the year. “It is also Mijwan’s 10th anniversary, so I am hoping to do something spectacular for that, too,” signs off Shabana.


The Raag Shayari team