Poet and film song lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi’s classics remain immortal in the Hindi film industry. His timeless writings and Nazms reflect empathy, love, and patriotism while capturing emotions with simplicity and grace.

On Ludhianvi’s birth centenary marked on Monday, Doon Library and Research Centre research associate Manoj Panjani recalled the Uttarakhand connection of some of his songs. He said “Some of Ludhianvi’s songs were shot in Uttarakhand. Songs like ‘In hawaon mai in fidayon mai’ from Gumrah movie and ‘parvaton ke pedo par shaam ka basera hai’ from Shagoon movie were shot in Nainital lake while ‘Zindagi ke rang kai re’ from Aadmi Aur Insaan was shot in Dakpathar and Nainital. In most of these songs, he describes the natural beauty of the locations”.’

According to Panjani, movie makers used to come to Nainital due to its natural beauty and later they started going to Kashmir and then Switzerland and other foreign places as accessibility improved. ‘Ganga tera pani amrit’ was shot in different locations of Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Dehradun and was a big hit. ‘Bina sifarish mile Naukri’ from Aadmi aur Insaan was also shot in Uttarakhand and even after so many years those words of his are still alive and relevant and depict the same scenario we are facing now. ‘Jagega insaan zamana dekhega’ song from Aadmi Aur Insaan movie which was shot near Dakpatthar was also penned by Ludhianvi. The song basically depicts the awakening of and creating awareness among the masses for their own fundamental rights.”

Talking about Ludhiyanvi’s personal life Panjani said, "At the age of 22, he had written Talkhiyan, his collection of poetry. He was fond of his mother and believed her to be a great inspiration but his father disowned his mother which terribly impacted the poet’s life.”