Jan Nisar Akhtar

Jan Nisar Akhtar
Born(1914-02-18)18 February 1914
Gwalior, Gwalior State, British India
Died19 August 1976(1976-08-19) (aged 62)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
OccupationPoet, lyricist
Alma materAligarh Muslim University
GenreGhazal
Literary movementProgressive Writers' Movement
Notable works"Khaak-e-dil" (The Ashes of Heart") (1973)
Spouse
  • Safiya Siraj-ul Haq
  • Khadija Talat
ChildrenJaved Akhtar
Salman Akhtar
Uneza Akhtar
Albina Akhtar Sharma
Shahid Khursheed Akhtar
ParentsMuztar Khairabadi (father)
RelativesFazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (great grandfather)

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]

  1. ^ Jan Nisar Akhtar Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema, by Gulzar, Govind Nihalani, Saibal Chatterjee (Encyclopædia Britannica, India). Popular Prakashan, 2003. ISBN 8179910660. p. 296.
  2. ^ Gulzar to release Jan Nissar Akhtar's Nigahon Ke Saaye Screen, 20 October 2006.
  3. ^ Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine Sahitya Akademi Award Official listings.