subcontinent has borne witness to an entire era of social change. Born in Mijwan, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kaifi Azmi formerly known as Athar Hussain Rizvi wrote his first ghazal ‘Itna toh zindagi mein kisi ki khalal padey’ at the age of eleven.
A pioneer of the Progressive Writers’ Movement, his inspiring poems include ‘Aurat’, ‘Taj and ‘Makaan’. In cinema, his most celebrated film songs include ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, ‘Shola aur Shabnam’, ‘Hanste Zakhm’, ‘Haqeeqat’ and ‘Arth’ while his best screenplays/dialogues include ‘Heer Ranjha’ and M.S. Sathyu’s masterpiece, ‘Garm Hawa’. Azmi has also received the greatest number of literary and poetry awards including the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, Sahitya Akademi Award and more,
As a tribute to their father Shabana Azmi and her cinematographer brother Baba Azmi have planned yearlong celebrations in honor of their erstwhile father whom they lovingly addressed as Aaba.
Starting with Raag Shayari on January 13, 2019, the eve of Kaifi Azmi’s 100 th birth anniversary at TATA Theater, NCPA the concert will be a coming together of internationally celebrated artists coming together. Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, singer, and composer Shankar Mahadevan, lyricist Javed Akhtar, actor Shabana Azmi, and filmmaker Feroz Abbas Khan. The same show will be presented as a fundraiser on 14 January by Mijwan Welfare Society at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra and three days later on January 17th, the same show will be presented at Nazrul Manch in Kolkata.
To be continued
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