Qateel Shifai (b. 1919)

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Qateel Shifai was born on 24th December, 1919. His actual name is Aurangzeb Khan. Qateel Shifai is his nom de plume, the pen-name under which he is known in the world of Urdu poetry. "Qateel" is his "takhallus" and "Shifai" is in honour of his ustaad Hakim Mohammed 'Shifa' whom he considered his mentor.

His father's death at an early age, forced Qateel to quit his education and start his own sporting goods shop. Success eluded him and he moved to Rawalpindi, where he worked at a transport company for a monthly salary of Rs.60. Finally in 1946, Nazir Ahmed called him to Lahore and made him the assistant editor of the monthly 'Adab-e-Latif'.

Qayeel Shifai's first ghazal was printed in the Lahore weekly 'Star', whose editor was Qamar Jalalabadi. In January 1947, a Lahore based film producer asked Qateel to pen the songs for his forthcoming film. His first film as a lyricist was "Teri Yaad". Since then he has won numerous awards as a lyricist. He has had quite a few of his poem collections published, one of which being "Mutriba" which was awarded the highest literature award in Pakistan.

Qateel's primary contribution to Urdu poetry has been to raise the standards of ghazals in films. Though this work was started by Tanvir Alvi and Sahir Ludhianvi,it has been brought to its natural conclusion by Qateel Shifai. His work brought a certain standard to ghazals in films and gave it a certain respectability. His work also brought Urdu poetry closer to the masses by using simple words, quite often words taken from Hindi.

Qateel Shifai has also been known for his collaborations with Jagjit & Chitra Singh. "The Gold Disc" and "Milestone" are two albums of the husband and wife duo in which all the ghazals are penned by Qateel Shifai. His ghazals can be found in their other albums too. My favourite of those has been ..

milakar judaa hue to na soyaa kare.nge ham
ek duusare kii yaad me.n royaa kare.nge ham

Here is a bit of one of my favourite poems sung by Ustad Mehdi Hassan.

zi.ndagii me.n to sabhii pyaar kiyaa karate hai.n
mai.n to mar kar bhii merii jaan tujhe chaahuu.Ngaa

Ghazals

List of some of his popular ghazals

• a.nga.Daaii par a.nga.Daaii letii hai raat judaaii kii
• apane haatho.n kii lakiiro.n me.n basaa le mujhako
• apane hoTho.n par sajaanaa chaahataa huu.N
• bechain bahaaro.n me.n kyaa-kyaa hai jaan kii Khushbuu aatii hai
• charaaG dil ke jalaao ki iid ka din hai
• dard se meraa daaman bhar de yaa allaah
• dil ko Gam-e-hayaat gavaaraa hai in dino.n
• garmii-e-hasarat-e-naakaam se jal jaate hai.n
• hijr kii pahalii shaam ke saaye duur ufaq tak chhaaye the
• ik-ik patthar jo.D ke mai.n ne jo diivaar banaa_ii hai
• jo bhii gu.nchaa tere hoTho.n par khilaa karataa hai
• kiyaa hai pyaar jise hamane zi.ndagii kii tarah
• milakar judaa hue to na soyaa kare.nge ham
• pahale to apane dil kii razaa jaan jaa_iye
• pareshaa.N raat saarii hai sitaaro.n tum to so jaao
• pyaas vo dil kii bujhaane kabhii aayaa hii nahii.n
• sadamaa to hai mujhe bhii ke tujhase judaa huu.N mai.n
• shaam ke saa.Nvale chehare ko nikhaaraa jaaye
• tum puuchho aur mai.n na bataauu.N aise to haalaat nahii.n
• tuune ye phuul jo zulfo.n me.n lagaa rakhaa hai
• tumhaarii a.njuman se uTh ke diivaane kahaa.N jaate
• ulfat kii na_ii ma.nzil ko chalaa, tuu baa.Nhe.n Daal ke baa.Nho.n me.n
• vafaa ke shiish mahal me.n sajaa liyaa mai.n ne
• vo dil hii kyaa tere milane kii jo duaa na kare
• yaaro.n kisii qaatil se kabhii pyaar na maa.Ngo
• ye mojazaa bhii muhabbat kabhii dikhaae mujhe
• yo.n lage dost teraa mujhase Khafaa ho jaanaa
• yuu.N chup rahanaa Thiik nahii.n ko_ii miiThii baat karo
• zi.ndagii me.n to sabhii pyaar kiyaa karate hai.n

Links

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