Early life

Azmi was born into a Shia Muslim family in the village of Mijwan in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. He got his title from the city of the same name.^[2][6]

Family

He was from a family of artists. His three brothers are also shayars (poets). Azmi was married to Shaukat Azmi. They have a daughter, Shabana Azmi who is an actress,^[2] and a son, Baba Azmi, a cinematographer. Azmi's daughter-in-law Tanvi Azmi is also an actress.^[6][5]

During Partition, he was underground in Aurangabad, as he was hounded by the British police for being a "card-carrying communist". His parents and his five brothers took the ship from Bombay to Karachi. By the time he surfaced, their ship had left.^[7]

He was denied a visa for Pakistan for several years despite the fact that his family lived there,^[8] because he was a communist.

Writings

At age eleven, Azmi wrote his first ghazal in Bahraich Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade and somehow managed to get himself invited to a mushaira and over there, he recited a ghazal, rather a couplet of the ghazal which was very much appreciated by the president of the mushaira, Mani Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thought he recited his elder brother's ghazal.^[9] When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi accepted the challenge and completed a ghazal. This particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India and it was immortalised as it was sung by legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar. Azmi abandoned his studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India agitations in 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full-time Marxist when he accepted membership of the Communist Party of India in 1943. During this period, the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very impressed by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended all possible encouragement towards him. Consequently, Azmi started to win great acclaim as a poet and became a member of Progressive Writers' Movement of India. At the age of twenty-four, he started activities in the textile mill areas of Kanpur. As a full-time worker, he left his life of comfort, though he was the son of a zamindar. He was asked to shift his base to Bombay, work amongst the workers and start party work with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm.^[6]

Poetry

Like most of the Urdu poets, Azmi began as a ghazal writer, cramming his poetry with the repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichés and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poetry, he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, and the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society, are the hallmark of his poetry. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect, his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated.^[6] Azmi's first collection of poems, Jhankar was published in 1943.

In 1944, he wrote a poem Ab Agli Id Ek Azad Pakistan Main Hogi — one of the works written by leading Progressive Writers of Urdu campaigning for Pakistan^[10] — although he later became bitter about the partition.^[11]

His important works including anthologies of poetry, were Aakhir-e-Shab,^[2] Sarmaya, Awaara Sajde, Kaifiyaat, Nai Gulistan, an anthology of articles he wrote for Urdu Blitz, Meri Awaaz Suno,^[2] a selection of his film lyrics, and the script of Heer Ranjha in Devanagari.^[12]

His best known poems are Aurat, Makaan, Daaera, Sanp, and Bahuroopni.

Films

Azmi's work in films includes working as a lyricist, writer, and actor. Azmi wrote his first lyrics for the film Buzdil, directed by Shaheed Latif and music by SD Burman, released in 1951. His early work as a writer was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like Yahudi Ki Beti (1956), Parvin (1957), Miss Punjab Mail (1958) and Id Ka Chand (1964). While directors like Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Bimal Roy strove to create the "New Cinema", writers like Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and Kaifi changed the tenor and vocabulary of the Hindi film song, creating a fresh new wave in Hindi film lyrics that lasted many years.^[13] His greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Raanjha (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the greatest feats of Hindi film writing. Azmi also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) and Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama (1977). As a lyricist and songwriter, though he wrote for numerous films, he will always be remembered for Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest war film. Some notables films for which he wrote lyrics include Kohra (1964), Anupama (1966), Uski Kahani (1966), Saat Hindustani (1969), Shola Aur Shabnam, Parwana (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Arth (1982) and Razia Sultan (1983). For Naunihal (1967), he wrote the song "Meri Aawaz Suno Pyar ka Raaz Suno" (Hear my voice, hear the secret of love) sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is picturised over the funeral procession of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Years later, after Azmi's own death his daughter, Shabana Azmi mentioned finding comfort in verses from the song.^[14] Azmi wrote the lyrics for Bible Ki Kahaniyan, the first Christian mythological television show broadcast in India.^[15] He also played a memorable role of Naseem's grandfather in Naseem (1995). Azmi died on 10 May 2002 at around the age of eighty-three. He was survived by his wife, daughter, and son. His autobiography is included in a collection of his works, Aaj Ke Prashid Shayar: Kaifi Azmi.^[6]

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Tribute

The government has also inaugurated a train named "Kaifiyat Express" which runs from his hometown Azamgarh to Old Delhi.

On 14 January 2020, search engine Google commemorated Kaifi Azmi with a Doodle on his 101st birth anniversary.^[21] Google commented: "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."^[22] There is street also named after him Kaifi Azmi road in Hyderabad. There is also a road in R. K. Puram, New Delhi named Kaifi Azmi Marg after him.^[23]

Sahitya Akademi Award

• 1975: Sahitya Akademi Award: Awara Sajde
• 2002: Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (Immortals of Literature)^[24]

National Film Awards

• 1970: National Film Award for Best Lyrics: Saat Hindustani
• 1973: National Film Award for Best Story: Garam Hawa (with Ismat Chughtai)

Filmfare Awards

• 1975: Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue: Garam Hawa
• 1975: Filmfare Award for Best Story: Garam Hawa (with Ismat Chughtai)
• 1975: Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay: Garam Hawa