A long-time Qatar resident and prominent businessman Mohamed Sabih Bukhari, known colloquially as MS Bukhari, was invited to co-host the recently held Second Great Indian Film Festival and Literary festival celebrated in Bhopal, India.
A patron of local community organisations and a known stalwart of Urdu language, Bukhari took with him his passion for Urdu poetry and managed to get an Urdu poetry session (mushaira) on the agenda of the festival.
It was the first time in any of the Indian film festivals that a poetry session was incorporated in the activities. Bukhari not just proposed the inclusion of poetry session in the 3-day literary extravaganza, he went on to organise it.
Local Bhopali Urdu poets were invited to present their poetry. “The aim was to provide a platform to those poets who never get a proper opportunity to present their work. It was very well received by the audience,” Bukhari tells Community on his return to Doha after attending the festival.
The Urdu mushaira titled “Andaz-e- Bayan, Bhopal se Qatar Tak” (Expression, From Bhopal to Qatar) had no outsider poets but only those from Bhopal. More than 600 people at Jahan Numa Palace packed the house to listen to Urdu poetry.
MS Bukhari also presided over the poetry session. Famous Bollywood Actor Raza Murad was the chief guest. Mohamed Habibun Nabi and SM Afzal were the guests of honour. Nabi also co-ordinated the mushaira.
“To my surprise the standard of Urdu poetry in Bhopal was very high. People loved the poetry and from the crowds inside and outside the venue, I could say it was a big hit at the festival,” says Bukhari, who himself recited couplets from the poetry of Allama Iqbal and Ahmed Faraz.
“A month before the festival, I got a chance to attend a poetry session in Bhopal and I saw that there were many local poets who were perhaps not very well connected did not get a chance to present their works to the audience,” explains Bukhari.
The purpose of getting the poetry session included in the festival, he says, was to provide a platform to such poets and enable them to get their works highlighted, he added.
Bukhari plans to bring some of these poets over to Doha at some future poetry session, organised by one of the many local Urdu language promotion community welfare organisations.
The other reason to include the poetry session in the Second Great Indian Film Festival and Literary Festival was to celebrate Urdu’s long relationship with the Hindi film industry.
“I told the audience there that Urdu has played a very important role in the success of Hindi cinema in India,” says Bukhari. Urdu used to be the language of choice for the lyrics of the songs and sometimes scripts for the many film produces during the early decades of Hindi film industry.
“A large number of people from the local bureaucracy and the members of Bollywood fraternity form Mumbai were present at the session and they thoroughly enjoyed it,” says Bukhari.
At the event, Bukhari led the welcome address. He also conducted a global Urdu meet under one banner from Doha “to show the world the aptitude and work currently done in Doha and outside Doha.”
Bureau Chief MPCG at ETV Urdu, Dr Mehtab Alam conducted the poetry session while Mohd Habibun Nabi delivered the vote of thanks. Some of the poets who participated in the session included Nusrat Mehdi, Vijay Tiwari, Zia Farooqui, Parveen Kaif, Malik Naved, Anjum Barabanavi, Hirendar Narayan, Mehtab Alam, Nadeem Mahir and Farooq Anjum.
The festival featured a number of other activities besides the mushaira as well, such as a talk show and discussions on film production and story writing.
The Great Indian Film and Literature Festival is the first of its kind festival to help “film-makers” and “litterateurs” come together on a shared platform to showcase their creative credentials.