Sahir’s real name was Abdul Hai, and he had his education at Government College, Ludhiana. Because of his revolutionary writings, he was expelled from the college. His first collection of poems ‘Talkian’ was published in 1943, and that gave him a great fame, specially because of two poems ‘Taj Mahal’ and ‘Chakley (the Brothels) in the collection.

Sahir entered the film industry in Bombay in early fifties. He was not accepted there so easily by the conservative film producers. But when his first film ‘Bazi’ was released, his poetry was acknowledged with great admiration, and that gave him recognition. But real identity came in Gurudatt’s ‘Pyasa’ in which his poetry proved to be much stronger than even the story, and there started an era when Sahir would write for any film with his own dictats.

Sahir was a revolutionary and progressive poet, but fully dedicated to his own country India. During 1962 India-China War, he visited military camps, and wrote for the pride of the Army and the nation. His long poem “Parchhaiyan” (The shadows) is considered to be an anti-War document.

Sahir writing’s made Urdu poetry so popular that today all over the world Urdu poets and their works have such a large readership.

Sahir died on 25th October 1980 due to a Heart Attack.

About The Translator Khawaja Tariq Mahmood, born 1927 at Chakwal, graduated in engineering from the Punjab University in 1947. He was commissioned in January 1948 in the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Pakistan Army, and retired as brigadier in 1979. He graduated from Staff College, Quetta in 1956, and from Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, U.K. in 1960-61. He took his law degree in 1977 from the Punjab University and Master’s degree in International Relations in 1985 from University of Southern California, U.S.A. He is at present living in Staines, Middlesex, U.K.