Date with the legendary lady of letters
Renews an old acquaintance with Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam and pays tribute to her
There grew a literary acquaintance with the acclaimed poet and she took interest in my writing and lyrics. She also published several of my poems in her magazine, Nagmani.
After some more years of struggle, I became a director and set up my oneroom office in Mumbai. One day, Amrita and Imroz came to meet me there. I welcomed them and I gave her my chair as a respect to a senior poet, while Imroz and I sat across the table on chairs kept for visitors. She had a request that I make a film on her novel, Pinjar. She had a script and I told her to leave it with me and we would discuss it the next day.
I went through the script and read it along with the novel at night. Pinjar spoke about the Partition through protagonist Puro, who stands as an epitome of violence against women.
At the second meeting, I told her that I would like to make a film of just the first three chapters, which were about Puro’s story, but for that I would have to write a screenplay. Amrita insisted that the film was to be made just as she had scripted it. When I declined saying that this was not possible and suggested that she make the film herself the way she wanted it, I could see displeasure on her face when she left.
However, this episode did not in any way sour our acquaintance. Whenever I went to Delhi, I would go to meet her. She published a long interview with me and that became the prologue of my first book in Hindustani, Chand Pukhraj Ka.
The last visit to see her was with Gopi Chand Narang, then president of the Sahitya Akademi, to give her the Akademi’s prestigious fellowship award. Sadly, she was then just a piece of flesh. She recognised no one nor could she speak. Imroz said, “These awards should come when a person is well enough to appreciate them.” Narang replied that he wanted it to reach her in her lifetime.
A year later, I recited her poems for a music company in tribute and each word touched my heart”.