Remembering Rahat Indori: Three writers recite verses by the Urdu poet and star of mushairas

Rahat Indori, one of the greatest voices of contemporary Urdu poetry and a star performer at mushairas, died on 11 August , succumbing to COVID-19 complications. A former professor and pedagogist of Urdu literature, he had several volumes of poetry and Bollywood songs to his credit, featured in films like Mission Kashmir and Munnabhai MBBS. His most memorable literary achievement, possibly, is the sway he held over his audience at mushairas and kavi sammelans in India and overseas, because of his style and candour. “A garrulous, self-effacing performer with a powerful voice, he would often regale gatherings with anecdotes from his Indore childhood — the idiosyncrasies of Indori diction, plus the signature hyperbolic Indori storytelling style informed his work… Indori’s work had true range — he had a ghazal for every mood, every occasion,” wrote Aditya Mani Jha in this piece about the poet’s style and body of work. Most recently, Indori’s political writing lent itself to the anti-CAA and NRC protests across India, where his lines “Sabhi ka khoon hai shamil yahaan ki mitti mein, kissi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai” from the ghazal ‘Agar khilaf hain, hone do’ gained new popularity. To commemorate his life and work, Aamir Aziz, Anukrti Upadhyay and Shivam Sharma recite his verses in this video: