Bashir Badr (born Syed Muhammad Bashir; 15 February 1935) is an Indian poet. He was teaching Urdu in

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

. He primarily writes in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

language particularly

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

s. He also wrote a couplet titled ''Dushmani Jam Kar Karo'' in 1972 during

Shimla Agreement The Simla Agreement, also spelled Shimla Agreement, was a peace treaty signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla, the capital city of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which ...

that revolves around the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. Badr's most of unpublished literary work, including uncertain poems was lost during the

1987 Meerut communal riots The 1987 Meerut massacre were a series of violent communal disturbances between Hindus and Muslims in the northern Uttar Pradesh town Meerut which occurred from March to June 1987, which resulted in the death of more than 100 people. Backgro ...

, and later he moved to

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

Early life and education

He was born in

United Provinces of British India The United Provinces of British India, more commonly known as the United Provinces, was a province of British India, which came into existence on 3 January 1921 as a result of the renaming of the ''United Provinces of Agra and Oudh''. It corre ...

(in modern-day aizabad now Ayodhya

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

, India) on 15 February 1935. After he did his early schooling, he attended the

where he did his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

. Later, he served at the same university as a lecturer. He also served at

Meerut College Meerut College is a state-funded college in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The college is affiliated to Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. The college was established in 1892 and has a campus of . The college has glorious history of achiev ...

for over seventeen years. After his property such as house and books was damaged in 1987 Meerut violence, he permanently moved to

. He is currently suffering from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

and is believed to have forgot his

Mushaira ''Mushaira'' ( ur, , Mušā'ira) is a poetic symposium. It is an event (called '' mehfil'', Mushairi) where poets gather to perform their works. A mushaira is part of the Culture of North India, Pakistan and the Deccan, particularly among the ...

years as a result of dementia.

Career

He started writing poems at the apparent age of seven. He wrote some collection of ghazals titled ''Ikai'', ''Kulliyate Bashir Badr'', ''Aamad'', ''Image'', ''Aahat'' and

Devanagari script Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...

ghazals titled ''Ujale Apni Yadon Ke''. During his career, he wrote two books titled ''Azadi Ke Bad Urdu Ghazals Ka Tanqidi Mutala'' (Critical study of Urdu ghazal after independence) and ''Biswin Sadi Mein Ghazal'' (Ghazals in 20th century) focused on literary criticism. He has also served at the Bihar Urdu Academy as a chairman.

Influence on politics

His couplets appears to have influence on Indian politicians, and are sometimes quoted in the

parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

by the leaders such as prime minister of India

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

and 2014's prime minister candidate of Congress

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president of ...

. In 1972, his couplet was quoted by

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the four ...

Awards

Badr has received the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

award in 1999 for contribution towards literature and

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

. He has also received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for his poetry collection "''Aas''" in 1999.

Legacy

Badr is one of the most quoted ''shayar'' in Indian pop-culture. A popular radio show ''Ujaale Apni Yaadon Ke'' on

Vividh Bharti The Vividh Bharati Service (VBS; ) of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1967. Due to the Indian Government stopping its short wave relay centers, VBS is only available on the Internet. Vividh Bharati radio channel wa ...

derives its title from one of Badr's most popular ''sher''. ''ujāle apnī yādoñ ke hamāre saath rahne do'' ''na jaane kis galī meñ zindagī kī shaam ho jaa.e '' The 2015 film

Masaan ''Masaan'' (; also known as ''Fly Away Solo'' in English) is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language independent drama film and starring Richa Chadda and Vicky Kaushal in lead roles. It is Kaushal's debut Hindi film, and is also the directorial debut of Ne ...

contains various examples of poetry and shaayari by Basheer Badr, along with works by

Akbar Allahabadi Syed Akbar Hussain, popularly known as Akbar Allahabadi (16 November 1846 – 9 September 1921) was an Indian Urdu poet in the genre of satire. Life and career Akbar Allahabadi was born in the town of Bara, eleven miles from Allahabad, to a fam ...

, Chakbast,

Mirza Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

and

Dushyant Kumar Dushyant Kumar Tyagi (1 September 1931 – 30 December 1975) was an Indian poet of modern Hindi literature. He is famous for writing Hindi Ghazals, and is generally recognised as one of the foremost Hindi poets of the 20th century. Personal l ...

. Explaining this as a conscious tribute, the film's lyrics writer Varun Grover explained that he wanted to show the character of Shaalu (played by Shweta Tripathi) as a person whose hobby is to read Hindi poetry and shaayari, as this is a common hobby of millennial and generation x youngsters in Northern India, especially when in love, but this aspect is rarely shown in Hindi films.

References

External links

Official website

Bashir Badr
at

Rekhta ''Rekhta'' ( ur, ; hi, रेख़्ता ) was the Hindustani language as its dialectal basis shifted to the Delhi dialect. This style evolved in both the Perso-Arabic and Devanagari scripts and is considered an early form of Urdu and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badr, Bashir Writers from Bhopal People from Faizabad People from Ayodhya Urdu-language poets from India Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu 1935 births Living people Aligarh Muslim University alumni 20th-century Indian poets Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education