Amjad Islaam Amjad on Waris, Poetry and a Life in Words | Rekhta Rubaru
When Waris aired, the streets went quiet across Pakistan and India.
This episode of Rekhta Rubaru brings host Rahman Faris together with the late Amjad Islam Amjad, one of the most translated and celebrated Urdu poets and playwrights of his time, for a conversation that spans his whole life.
He looks back on his childhood in a family of artisans in Sialkot and Lahore, early mentors like his neighbour Aqa Bedar Bakht and his principal Master M.A. Aziz, and his love for Ibn-e-Safi's detective novels. He talks about the turning point, a chance meeting with Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who asked to publish his poem in Fanoon and made him feel like a poet for the first time. He recalls how Waris became the first PTV drama to show the rural feudal system honestly, and how it emptied streets during every broadcast.
He shares his view that philosophy should come after the poetry, not before it, and speaks warmly of his lifelong partnership with his wife through his early struggle years. There's also his bond with contemporaries like Parveen Shakir, Ahmed Faraz and Abbas Tabish, and his close friendships with Gulzar and Javed Akhtar in India.
This episode of Rekhta Rubaru brings host Rahman Faris together with the late Amjad Islam Amjad, one of the most translated and celebrated Urdu poets and playwrights of his time, for a conversation that spans his whole life.
He looks back on his childhood in a family of artisans in Sialkot and Lahore, early mentors like his neighbour Aqa Bedar Bakht and his principal Master M.A. Aziz, and his love for Ibn-e-Safi's detective novels. He talks about the turning point, a chance meeting with Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who asked to publish his poem in Fanoon and made him feel like a poet for the first time. He recalls how Waris became the first PTV drama to show the rural feudal system honestly, and how it emptied streets during every broadcast.
He shares his view that philosophy should come after the poetry, not before it, and speaks warmly of his lifelong partnership with his wife through his early struggle years. There's also his bond with contemporaries like Parveen Shakir, Ahmed Faraz and Abbas Tabish, and his close friendships with Gulzar and Javed Akhtar in India.
