Jan Nisar Akhtar

Jan Nisar Akhtar (18 February 1914 – August 1976) was a Progressive poet who carried Urdu verse from the mushaira into the cinema hall. Son of the poet Muztar Khairabadi and great-grandson of Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, he took a BA (Hons) and MA in Urdu from Aligarh Muslim University, lectured at Victoria College, Gwalior (1940), and became Professor of Urdu at Hamidia College, Bhopal. A member of the Progressive Writers' Movement, he moved to Bombay in 1949 and became a Bollywood lyricist, writing 151 songs — among them Yasmin (1955), "Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein" in CID (1956), Prem Parbat (1974), Noorie (1979) and "Ae Dil-e-Naadaan" in Razia Sultan (1983). His poetry collections include Nazr-e-Butaan, Salaasil, Javidaan, Pichali Pehar, Ghar Angan and Khaak-e-Dil, which won the 1976 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu. His style is romantic and revolutionary at once, in simple but eloquent language with extensive Hindi words. He was the father of the lyricist Javed Akhtar and the psychoanalyst Salman Akhtar.