Sahir Ludhianvi and Amrita Pritam
Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayaal Aata Hai
Ki Jaise Tu Mujhe Chaahegi Umr Bhar Yoohin
Uthegi Meri Taraf Pyaar Ki Nazar Yoohin
Main Jaanta Hoon Ki Tu Geir Hai Magar Yoohin
Main Jaanta Hoon Ki Tu Geir Hai Magar Yoohin
Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayaal Aata Hai
Thus wrote Sahir Ludhianvi for his love of life Amrita Pritam, a love story that remained incomplete but still remained etched in the vagaries of time. Amrita and Sahir were alike as cheese and chalk.
Amrita was beautiful, successful, and married to a prominent businessman. Saahir had just come back from Lahore, where his socialist ideology found no takers, and had to leave the city with hardliners breathing down his neck. Saahir was trying to find his feet in the Bombay film industry. Amrita fell heads over heels in love with Saahir. Worse, she made no bones about it.
However, destiny had something else in store for them. They were clear about everything. Everything stood in their path of union, tradition, culture, and society, and Oh, not to forget religion. Their love story was composed of affection, ache, acceptance, failure, penitence, sensuality, and almost everything in between these emotions.
It is a story to be told, and many wonder why it took Bollywood so long to portray the immortal love story of the Punjabi poetess Amrita and Bollywood lyricist Sahir.
Sahir Ludhianvi and Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam’s love story
According to a report in Mid Day, Poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam’s love story, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next film.
The Biopic will feature Aishwariya Rai as Amrita and Abhishek Bachan as the celebrated Poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. It is a story that was waiting to be told. To an entire generation of Indians in the 1960s and 1970s, it was known and often spoken about as a tale of Passion and pain which were the only ingredients in this tragic love story.
The two were destined to meet in 1944; Amrita, a married woman, met Sahir, a budding poet, and lyricist. They met for a mushaira (poetry reading session) at a village somewhere between Lahore and Delhi. The love between them blossomed, and the flame remained lit, shining by varying degrees but never extinguished.
Years later, Kushwant Singh interviewed Amrita Pritam and asked about her love for Sahir. Amrita said that often Saahir used to visit her house, drank whisky, and smoked cigarettes. After he left, Amrita would relight the butts left behind. It was her idea of the consummation of their love between them. Kushwant Singh wanted some juicier details of their encounters and later commented that “Your Love Story could be written on a rasidi stamp. (Revenue Stamp) Later, Amrita named her autobiography as Rasidi Ticket.
It is believed that Amrita wanted to walk out of her uneventful marriage, but Sahir never committed himself to the relationship. Just like two parallel paths which were never to converge, the love story of the Poet and the poetess remained unfulfilled and incomplete.
