“One may write thousands of poems but the one written from the heart will be immortal,” says Farhat Shahzad, whose name stands tall in the world of poetry. Legendary ghazal maestros like Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh have sung and celebrated his ghazals. Shahzad shot to a meteoric fame with the release of the album “Kehna Usey” sung by Hassan.
A programme, “Ek Mulaqat Farhat Shahzad ke saath” was held at India Habitat Centre. It was presented as an ongoing initiative by SIET, an NGO, to provide visibility to contemporary poets and to give access to the public to a rich and creative literary world. The event saw Farhat reciting some of his masterpieces followed by a talk session with the audience.
Excerpts from an interview:
What inspires you to write such beautiful poetry?
Mostly it is from real life because you cannot think so much that happens in real life either good or bad. There is no need to go very far off, even the relationship between India and Pakistan gives you so much material to write about. There are a lot of issues between the two countries. I believe that there is a wall which is created politically between the two countries and artists are responsible to create windows in between by spreading the message of love. Life is something which can inspire you solely, now it depends on you how you take it.
Your poems have been sung by celebrated artistes like Mehdi Hassan. Did you ever imagine that you will come such a long way?
I never thought I would come such a long way. Also at that point of time singing any poets words were considered shameful in society. The person was thought to have commercialised himself. But from past 20-25 years people have started accepting this era of change in the medium. So when my first ghazal was sung by Mehdi Hassan I couldn’t believe that it was written by me.
The upcoming generation is running towards Western music nowadays and classical music seems to have taken a backseat. What do you feel about this? We all know that market of classes was never the market of masses and the class which is attracted towards ghazal or literature is even present today. The number of such people does vary from time to time. The energy in youth has always attracted them towards foot tapping music. The serious listeners fall in the age group of 30s. So there is nothing to worry as when they will reach that age they themselves will turn towards classical music.
What did you learn while working with such great artists and whom do you think did justice to your words?
Not only the experience was great but even being with such artiste is a great thing. Luckily I spent almost 30 years of my life with Hassan. When you are with such great people you not get to learn about the art form but also about life.
Despite having so much of fame they are still down to earth and inspires you to be a good human being.
Mehdi Hassan was one whom after listening to I always felt that this was something I wanted to say and no one would have done it more beautifully.
