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Thukra raha tha mujhko badi der se jahaan Main aaj sab jahaan ko thukra ke pee gaya (The world has ignored me far too long Today, having spurned the world, I drown myself in liquor). This literal translation may not adequately surmise the pathos of the original, but the autobiographical lyric from Pyaasa does sum up at least one aspect of Sahir's living-on-the-edge life. “It was this ability to show us a mirror to our worlds without in any way compromising the intellectual and poetic quotient of a song that made Sahir peerless.” The above has been said with regards to his lyrics in Phir Subaah Hogi, a film inspired by Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. But then it was not always that he would “push the envelope on the creativity front.” And but for an occasional burst, or reworking of earlier poetry, that by the end of 1960s, “Sahir's best as a lyricist was behind him.”
“He was a savant who stood up for those who lved on the margins of society, stressed upon the need for communal harmony and remained opposed to war. At the same time, he championed the most frequently used theme in the Hindi film song, the love song, like few before or after him."
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Brilliant, insightful quotes and critical analysis of his poetry, comprehensively researched and executed narrative of a life of struggle nipped in its very flowering by the cruel hand of death thus depriving not only Bollywood one of its finest romantic lyricist but also modern Urdu poetry its incomparable exponent. Differences with producers, directors, singers and composers (beginning with LataMangeshkar, and followd by S D Burman, RD Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Jaidev etc, fame, fortune gradually seem to erode his sensibility. Coupled with “the absence of a muse, Sahir's romantic songs in the 1970s and after, barring Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein (actually a version of a poem from his famous collection, Talkhiyaan) didn't create much of an impression.” An interesting revelation is that the poem had originally been recorded by Khayyam for a shelved film called Kaafir, to be directed by Chetan Anand, starring Dev Anand and Geeta Bali. A painful childhood; struggle for survival in early youth; a chain of failed love affairs, and separations; an inflated ego in the aftermath of unprecedented success both in the literary and the make-believe world of cinema are some of the constituents summing up the poet's journey. “It is possible that (Sahir) gravitated towards poetry to give expression to the circumstances of his childhood.” Still greater, perhaps, in the aftermath of success is the enormous capacity to travel on two separated lines of a railway track: serious lissome thoughts and an often-flippant situation demanding compromise. Manwani's comprehensive attempt also brings to light many unknown aspects of Sahir's journey: How he became Sahir Ludhianvi from Abdul Hayee. “As per the traditions of Urdu poetry, most poets adopt a pen-name or takhallus to establish an identity. For instance, Shabbir Hasan Khan came to be known as Josh Malihabadi and Ali Sikandar courted fame as Jigar Moradabadi.” Sahir picked up his from Mohammed Iqbal's tribute to Daagh Delhvi. The last chapter is a comparative study of Sahir and his contemporaries, poets as well as lyricists, drawing the conclusion that “his work is eternal. His words go well beyond the film's situation…Beyond that, he gave the film song an intellectual quotient.” And apart from biographical details, the book provides a 48-page list of his songs, beginning with Azadi Ki Raah Par (1948) to Chingaari (1989), select bibliography, index of poems and film songs. Manwani has judiciously spotlighted both the negative and the positive facets of Sahir's personality, investigating all possible sources available to an admirer: 