Kyaa Ghum Hain Dharamji Jo Aap Ko Sataa Rahaa Hain

I had heard about Dharmendra writing poetry in Urdu. I found proof about it when I was on the sets of a film called “Zulm Ki Hukumat” - Ali Peter John

There was a break and Dharamji took me to a van and we sat in an air-conditioned place and I was surprised to see him wearing glasses for the first time and he showed his innocent self to me when he said, “Yeh baat kisiko batanaa nehi ki Dharam chashmaa pahentaa hain”.

He took out a sheet of paper and told me that he had written a poem that morning and wanted to read it out to me and give him my opinion.

As he read what he had written I could see tears welling up in his eyes. It was a poem about unrequited love and I couldn’t believe that the “He-man” and the “garam Dharam” could write the kind of intense poetry that not even some of the so called great poets could write.

He was excited with my reaction which came from my heart and not just because a big star like him had written it. He invited me to his house to listen to his other poems.

And that began my journey to his house to discover the poet in him in a better way and with time I realize that if he had not made it as a star, he would certainly have been one of the leading poets of the Urdu language.

There were times when his younger brother who was also a poet besides being an actor who couldn’t make it big , joined Dharamji in sharing his own poems. It was a feast of Urdu Poetry accompanied by tall glasses of lassi and parathas.

But , it is only of late and especially during the lock down when he has been living on his farm house in Lonavala that he has gone back to his love for farming full time that he has also been writing the kind of poetry that he says his “meri aatmaa ki awaaz”.

He has been writing about every subject that touches him and moves him, but it is what he has been writing during the last one month that has got millions of his admirers worried about him.

The 84 year old actor who can give any young man a run for his money, has been writing lines like “ Sehtaa rahaa hun” and other lines like “Mujhe mere dharti se bedhakal kiyaa ja rahaa hain” and “Apno ne hi ghum diyaa”.

One doesn’t have to read his entire poems or read between the lines to know how a man who has been swaying the world with his natural charm and has been a symbol of strength and love could be feeling when writing such lines which are an expression of being separated from someone he has loved all his life and his missing the fragrance of the soil which has always been very dear to him.

His fans have been flooding him with requests to come out with the truth about what is troubling his heart and mind so much.

He has tried to answer them, but the answers he has tried to give are like so many puzzles which not many can solve easily.

Dharamji, hum sab ne aapko itnaa pyaar diyaa hain. Aur aapne hum sab ko usse bhi jyadaa chaaha hain. Kyaa hamaraa itnaa bhi haq nahi hai ki hum aapke ghum mein shaamil ho yaa unn saare ghumo jo aapko sataate hain door kar sake