Kaifi Azmi 101st Birthday: Google Doodle pays tribute to popular Urdu poet and songwriter

Sayyed Athar Hussein Rizi, best known as Kaifi Azmi was born on January 14, 1919. On the occasion of the legendary Indian Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi’s 101st birthday, Google dedicated its Doodle to him on January 14, 2020. Notably, Azmi is considered as the best poets of the 20th century.

Besides a Urdu Poet, Kaifi Azmi was a songwriter and social change advocate. He was born into a Shia Muslim family in Uttar Pradesh.

Paying tribute to Kaifi Azmi, the Indian government inaugurated a train “Kaifyat Express” which is currently running from his hometown Azamgarh to Old Delhi. Marking Kaifi Azmi’s 101st birthday on January 20, Google commemorated Kaifi Azmi with a Doodle and wrote, “With work ranging from passionate love poems and activist verses to Bollywood songs lyrics and screenplays, Azmi has become one of the most renowned poets of the 20th century in India, and his humanitarian efforts continue to impact people’s lives today.”

Azmi is mostly remembered for his Urdu poet and Introducing Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Notably, he composed his first ghazal, when he was merely 11-year old.

The veteran poet took inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement and for that movement, he left his hometown and went to Mumbai to write for an Urdu newspaper. His first collection of Urdu poems named Jhankar was published in the year 1943. In the same year, he became a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association and started writing to achieve socio-economic reforms.

Kaifi Azmi is the recipient of multiple awards including three Filmfare Awards for Garm Hawa, the Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.

Azmi was also an advocate for women’s rights and he did mention in one of his peoms, Aurat. He also founded the NGO Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS), which to this day supports educational initiatives to improve the lives of rural women and families.

Kaifi Azmi was married to stage actress Shaukat Kaifi. He is the father of actress Shabana Azmi, who is also the President of Mijwan Welfare Society, and cinematographer Baba Azmi.