Politics in verse

Veteran theatre director-playwright-poet Ashok Lal is back with Roshnai, a long-awaited poetry collection

Years ago, illustrious Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz embraced immortality when he penned, ‘ Mujhse pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang’. Many read into it the angst of a man torn between intimate love and larger social responsibility in a world of hunger and deprivation. Now many a summer later, a seasoned poet with poetry in his blood and culture on his mantelpiece has made bold to give a neat twist to the couplet.

Turning the premise on its head, Ashok Lal, the versatile genius who has lorded over the world of theatre and literature, writes, ‘ Mujhse pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob tu mang’. The couplet belongs to the poem, ‘ Pehli si Mohabbat’ which is part of Roshnai, Lal’s poetry collection which owes much to the past six decades, and not a little to the likes of Mirza Ghalib, Faiz and others. 

Poetry comes naturally to him. His father and two elder brothers were poets and his home was often a centre of soirées graced by well-known poets. In his youth Lal wrote humorous poetry, mixing humour with satire. As life expanded its canvas, so did Lal’s poetry. Roshnai is a product of this inner realization. 

It is this rare ability to express what’s in his mind and heart that sets Lal apart. “As far as the ability to be brave enough to turn Faiz or even Ghalib’s couplets on their head is concerned, well, I have always been uncomfortable with Faiz’s expressions, the meaning derived therein. For instance, when he says, ‘ Teri aankhon ke siva duniya mein rakha kya hai’ I don’t agree though I know he was not referring directly to his beloved. But 90 per cent of fans would think only in terms of a female. However, in my poem, I refer to the Independence of the country. We did not get Independence in a day, but that day the change began. My idealism of youth, the passion has faded.”

His book Roshnai is a product of 60 years of poetry. “I wrote a lot of poetry over the years. Some of it got lost and some I could retrieve. This is a book which was waiting to be done; poetry is in my veins though I did not take myself seriously as a poet. At times, I wonder, if I have written a certain phrase, a certain couplet.”

For all his self-effacing ways, Roshnai demands attention. It has the brightness of a new bride as shown in ‘ Dulhan si Naveli Hai’, the easily identifiable ‘Dakiya Chala’ beside the brave inversion of the couplets of Ghalib and Faiz.

Lal is not resting on the laurels of Roshnai. He plans to be back with his powerful street play, Do Duni Ek. “I still express myself through plays and poetry. That’s my domain,” he says, pledging to fight one more round, irrespective of the steep odds.