Shabana Azmi along and Javed Akhtar recreated the love that Kaifi Azmi shared with his wife Shaukat by reading excerpts from Shaukat’s play Kaifi aur Main at the Jashn-e-Rekhta organised at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts
We have heard several love stories, some with sad endings and some with happy endings. But there is always something special about few love stories which make it unique and different from others.
likewise, what makes the love story of poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi different is the narration of their love story by their daughter and son -in-law. Veteran actress Shabana Azmi along with her husband and lyricist Javed Akhtar narrated the love story at a recent event.
This is not for the first time when they have narrated this story but the magic which they create every time while reading it, makes it different. The story is set on a political backdrop of pre-independent India.
The story is the compilation of Shaukat’s interaction with Kaifi which Shaukat has written in her book Yaad Ki Rehguzaar along with some parts of Kaifi’s interview which was compiled together by Javed Akhtar.
At the second edition of Jashn-e-Rekhta, which began with the the performance of Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi with their play Kaifi Aur Main, the highlight which made the play so interesting was that the memoir was converted into a poem. The play starts with the first meeting of Kaifi and Shaukat in a concert where Kaifi was reading his shayari after which Shaukat asked for his autograph.
The play narrated each and every phase of their love story before their marriage to the active participation of both of them in freedom movement and to the birth of their daughter Shabana and much more.
The play transcends the entire experience to an ethereal level. Not only they were reading it, but the play was also supported with the songs written by Kaifi like Tum jo mil gaye ho, Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam, Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho, et al.