Google Doodle paid tribute to legendary Urdu poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi on his 101st birth anniversary today.
Popularly know as Kaifi Azmi, the famous Bollywood lyricist’s birth name was Syed Athar Hussain Rizvi. He had contributed to Bollywood immensely and his works are still looked upon as inspiration by writers and poets. He was a renowned name in Urdu literature.
Kaifi Azmi was born in 1919 in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh. He was inspired by the Quit India Movement and Mahatma Gandhi. He had also written for a Urdu newspaper in Mumbai. His early writings have strong themes of women empowerment and equality.
Azmi was a writer by birth, he had written his first poem at the age of 11. He later went on to write many screenplays, songs and love poems. One of his greatest writings include 1970’s ‘Heer Raanjha’ in which he wrote the entire dialogue of the film in verse.
He also wrote iconic songs like Pakeezah’s soundtrack ‘Chalte Chalte’, ‘Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil’ and his poem ‘Aurat’. He also has many awards under his name, three Filmfare Awards, the prestigious Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship are some of them.
Kaifi Azmi had two children, Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi and Baba Azmi. He died at the age of 83 on May 10, 2002.
