Jan Nisar Akhtar | |
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| Born | 18 February 1914 Gwalior, Gwalior State, British India |
| Died | 19 August 1976 (aged 62) Bombay, Maharashtra, India |
| Occupation | Poet, lyricist |
| Alma mater | Aligarh Muslim University |
| Genre | Ghazal |
| Literary movement | Progressive Writers' Movement |
| Notable works | "Khaak-e-dil" (The Ashes of Heart") (1973) |
| Spouse |
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| Children | Javed Akhtar Salman Akhtar Uneza Akhtar Albina Akhtar Sharma Shahid Khursheed Akhtar |
| Parents | Muztar Khairabadi (father) |
| Relatives | Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (great grandfather) |
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| Progressive Writers' Movement |
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Jan Nisar Akhtar (18 February 1914 – 19 August 1976) was an Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms, and a part of the Progressive Writers' Movement, who was also a lyricist for Bollywood.[1]
He was the son of Muztar Khairabadi and great grandson of Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, who were both Urdu poets. His career spanned four decades during which he worked with music composers including C. Ramchandra, O.P. Nayyar, Datta Naik also credited as N. Datta and Khayyam and wrote 151 songs. Notable among them were songs from his breakthrough film, A.R. Kardar's Yasmin (1955), Aankhon hi Aankhon Mein in Guru Dutt's CID (1956), Yeh dil aur unki nigahon ke saaye in Prem Parbat (1974) and Aaja re in Noorie (1979) and his last song, Ae Dil-e-naadaan, in Kamal Amrohi's Razia Sultan (1983).[2]
His poetic works include Nazr-e-Butaan, Salaasil, Javidaan, Pichali Pehar, Ghar Angan and Khaak-e-dil. The latter ("The Ashes of Heart") was a poetry collection for which he was awarded the 1976 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[3]
- ^ Jan Nisar Akhtar Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema, by Gulzar, Govind Nihalani, Saibal Chatterjee (Encyclopædia Britannica, India). Popular Prakashan, 2003. ISBN 8179910660. p. 296.
- ^ Gulzar to release Jan Nissar Akhtar's Nigahon Ke Saaye[dead link] Screen, 20 October 2006.
- ^ Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine Sahitya Akademi Award Official listings.