Woh subah kabhi toh aayegi...
Born as Abdul Hayee in pre-Partition India, he took on the pen name Sahir, which meant an enchanter. While he did enchant connoisseurs of poetry, Sahir Ludhiavi himself remained disenchanted with the world he inhabited. Part of Guru Dutt’s iconic image as the disillusioned poet Vijay in Pyaasa, borrowed its gravitas from Sahir’s lyrics – Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai. Dutt’s Vijay echoed Sahir’s disparagement about materialism biting away at the soul of men. In the same film, the ‘Faizian’ outcry, Jinhe naaz hai Hind pe woh kahan hai, was an indictment of the dissipating Nehruvian socialism. Sahir’s lament, reportedly left Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of neo- Independent India, disturbed as well.
Sahir hit out at misogyny, with Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko (Sadhna), at divisiveness with Tu Hindu banega na Musalmaan banega (Dhool Ka Phool) and reiterated that the secular is sublime with Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam (Hum Dono).
Decades later, Sahir’s rantWoh subah kabhi toh aayegi from Phir Subah Hogi
