Shaukat Kaifi Turns Left And Then Leaves...She Walked Shoulder To Shoulder With Man All Her Life, A True Fighter With A Free Spirit

Ali Peter John

The last of my strong links with Abbas sahab, Shaukat Kaifi, the wife of the renowned poet, Kaifi Azmi, the mother of Shabana Azmi, the mother of Baba Azmi, the mother-in-law of Javed Akhtar and Tanvi Azmi and the grandmother of Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar died on November 22 at the age of 91 after going through a long period of ailments and afflictions. She used to call Abbas sahab "Bhaijaan" and I still consider it my privilege to have worked as the boy who carried books and articles and stories between Abbas sahab, Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Kaifi ...

It was during these rounds of running errands between giants that I got the opportunity to meet Kaifi that i came to know the couple better and I also came to know more about the leftist movement in India, through literature and theatre. It was a pleasure to even spend a few minutes with the couple in their simple cottage in Jankikutir in Juhu, facing the sea. Their house was in keeping with their thinking, a simple and sparse house with only the minimum necessities of life and the only decoration in their house was poetry, good cheer and the urge to fight for the farmers, the mazdoors and other downtrodden people of the country. It was in this cottage that I first met a college girl who was on the verge of making her debut as an actress in “Faasla”, a film which Abbas sahab made mainly to keep a promise he had made to launch the twelve year old Shabana to launch her as an actress...

The story of Kaifi and Shaufat reads like a fable. Shaukat was a young girl who first fell in love with the romantic and revolutionary poetry of a poet called Kaifi Azmi. Her love for his poetry led her to fall in love with the poet himself and love ultimately led to marriage, even though Shaukat knew that marrying a poet with leftist leanings and a streak of rebellion could be difficult. And it was, because the newly married couple had to live in a little room in Madanpura in Central Bombay in what was called the Commune which was like a housing society of most of the communists poets, writers, actors and even leaders. It is now difficult to imagine how they all lived in the same circumstances, with one tap and one common toilet. But they were bound by their values which they were not going to change for any temptations.

It was the poet in Kaifi who inspired Shaukat to play a more significant role in society and for the cause of the country. Just one poem written by him for her, "Uth meri jaan" was like a clarion call not only for her but for all women to not be decoration pieces at home, but walk out with their men and march shoulder to shoulder if their common goal was to be achieved. This one poem changed the life of Shaukat, who in turn changed the life of so many other women and showed them the way to deliver themselves from the shackles of men who were not willing to give them the dignity and the respect they deserve. That one poem is still considered to be an anthem for women to rise and fight for their rights...

Shaukat took to acting and played dominant roles in the plays of Prithviraj Kapoor and IPTA. She was also the actress who made a big difference to films like "Garm Hava", “Umrao Jaan” and many other films in which she had strong women character even if she was playing the Madam of the house of courtesan and when a stage came when she realised that she was being stereotyped in the same kinds of role she backed out and concentrated on inspiring her husband and her daughter, Shabana who is whatever she is today because of the strong influence of her mother, besides the writings of her genius of a father.

It was in 2000, that she first showed signs of ageing and ailing and I used to meet her regularly at Dr. R. K Agarwal's clinic in Jankikutir where she used to come dressed in the most elegant style which went very well with her rising age.

Something very good happened, when she wrote her autobiography, "Kaifi and I". It was a best seller which Javed Akhtar turned into a play in which Shabana played her role and Javed Akhtar played the role of Kaifi. The play "Kaifi aur Main" directed by my friend, Ramesh Talwar was a blockbuster in the world of Indian theatre and was performed in most of the leading countries of the world.

It was during the performances of this play that Shaukat was seen at her elegant best for the last few times.

She then fell seriously sick and had been bed-ridden for the last five years and tried putting up a stiff fight against the power of death, but like the greatest and the smallest of human beings, she too had to surrender to that mysterious law which says, if there is life, there will be death. She breathed for the last time on November 22 at 5 p.m. and just like her husband, she too had made it clear that there should be no formalities and rites after her death and that she too like her husband and Abbas sahab should be buried where the most common among common people are buried. Abbas sahab who wanted to be buried next to his wife, Muji's grave, but he was given that privilege by destiny or call it what you may. He was buried in the most ordinary grave in one corner of the Santacruz kabristan. Shaukat too was buried at the Four Bungalows kabristan where Kaifi was buried some years ago, but I don’t know if she was given the privilege of being buried next to Kaifi, because of the acute lack of space in our cemeteries and kabristan.

My other guru, Dev Anand always asked why there could not be alternate life after death and i share my opinion with him that makes me wonder why all the leftists who have been buried in different kabristans can have their own lives after death and continue their fight for liberty, equality and fraternity!

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