Joy of Urdu

Tribute to Urdu poet Bashir Badr (بشیر بدر; born Syed Muhammad Bashir; 15 February 1935 – 28 May 2026), who just passed away, by young Joy of Urdu volunteer Moosa Gardezi.

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Bashir Badr taught Urdu at the Aligarh Muslim University. He also served at Meerut College for over seventeen years.

Most of Badr’s unpublished literary work, including an uncertain number of poems, his property, including his house and books, were damaged or lost during the 1987 Meerut communal riots, he permanently moved to Bhopal.

Badr started writing poems at the age of seven. He wrote collections of ghazals and two books titled Azadi Ke Bad Urdu Ghazal Ka Tanqidi Mutala (Critical study of Urdu ghazal after independence) and Biswin Sadi Mein Ghazal (Ghazals in 20th century) focused on literary criticism. He also served at the Bihar Urdu Academy as a chairman

Badr received the Padma Shri award in 1999 for contribution towards literature and Sangeet Natak Akademi. He also received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for his poetry collection “Aas” in 1999.

Badr is one of the most quoted shayars in Indian pop-culture. A popular radio show Ujaale Apni Yaadon Keon Vividh Bharti derives its title from one of Badr’s most popular sher.

ujāle apnī yādoñ ke hamāre saath rahne do na jaane kis galī meñ zindagī kī shaam ho jaa.e

The 2015 film Masaan contains various examples of poetry and shaayari by Basheer Badr, along with works by other poets.
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Moosa Gardezi is a writer, environmentalist, and educator whose essays on literature and politics have appeared in publications including The News and The Express Tribune. His poetry has been featured in various literary journals and at the Karachi Literature Festival. He is the founder of The Sayebaan Project, a non-profit promoting environmental stewardship through tree planting, and teaches public speaking and English Literature. He is currently a second year student, studying International Social and Political Studies at University College London (UCL).

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Tribute to Urdu poet Bashir Badr, who just passed away, by young Joy of Urdu volunteer Moosa Gardezi.

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Bashir Badr (Urdu: بشیر بدر; born Syed Muhammad Bashir; 15 February 1935 – 28 May 2026) was an Indian poet. He taught Urdu at the Aligarh Muslim University. He primarily wrote in the Urdu language particularly ghazals.

After he did his early schooling, he attended the Aligarh Muslim University where he did his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and PhD. Later, he served at the same university as a lecturer. He also served at Meerut College for over seventeen years.

Most of Badr's unpublished literary work, including an uncertain number of poems, his property, including his house and books, were damaged or lost during the 1987 Meerut communal riots, he permanently moved to Bhopal.

Badr started writing poems at the age of seven. He wrote some collections of ghazals titled Ikai, Kulliyate Bashir Badr, Aamad, Image, Aahat and Devanagari script ghazals titled Ujale Apni Yadon Ke. During his career, he wrote two books titled Azadi Ke Bad Urdu Ghazal Ka Tanqidi Mutala (Critical study of Urdu ghazal after independence) and Biswin Sadi Mein Ghazal (Ghazals in 20th century) focused on literary criticism. He also served at the Bihar Urdu Academy as a chairman

His couplets appear to have had an influence on Indian politicians, and are sometimes quoted in the parliament of India by the leaders such as prime minister of India Narendra Modiand 2014's prime minister candidate of Congress Rahul Gandhi. In 1972, his couplet was quoted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He also wrote a couplet titled Dushmani Jam Kar Karo in 1972 during Shimla Agreement that revolves around the partition of India.

Badr received the Padma Shri award in 1999 for contribution towards literature and Sangeet Natak Akademi. He also received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for his poetry collection "Aas" in 1999.

Badr is one of the most quoted shayars in Indian pop-culture. A popular radio show Ujaale Apni Yaadon Keon Vividh Bharti derives its title from one of Badr's most popular sher.

ujāle apnī yādoñ ke hamāre saath rahne do na jaane kis galī meñ zindagī kī shaam ho jaa.e

The 2015 film Masaan contains various examples of poetry and shaayari by Basheer Badr, along with works by Akbar Allahabadi, Chakbast, Mirza Ghalib and Dushyant Kumar. Explaining this as a conscious tribute, the film's lyrics writer Varun Grover explained that he wanted to show the character of Shaalu (played by Shweta Tripathi) as a person whose hobby is to read Hindi/ Urdu poetry and shaayari, as this is a common hobby of Millennial and Generation X youngsters in Northern India, especially when in love, but this aspect is rarely shown in Hindi films.

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Moosa Gardezi is a writer, environmentalist, and educator whose essays on literature and politics have appeared in publications including The News and The Express Tribune. His poetry has been featured in various literary journals and at the Karachi Literature Festival. He is the founder of The Sayebaan Project, a non-profit promoting environmental stewardship through tree planting, and teaches public speaking and English Literature. He is currently a second year student, studying International Social and Political Studies at University College London (UCL).

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‎ #اردو
‎ #شعر
‎ #شاعری
‎ #اشعار
‎ #اردوشاعری

Thank you to Mira Hashmi, granddaughter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, author of “Gulzar’s Ijaazat: Insights into the Film” for sending us this video, since managing multiple time zones for this special tribute session has been a challenge, with singer Fariha Pervez on a hectic North America tour currently.

Links to book sellers here:
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/gulzars-ijaazat-mira-hashmi?variant=39399512408098)


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‎اردو
‎شعر
‎شاعری
‎اشعار
‎اردوشاعری

We hosted an online tribute session for Asha Bhosle, with singer Fariha Pervez, Joy of Urdu Advisor, sociolinguist Dr. Rizwan Ahmad (Qatar University) author of “Gulzar’s Ijaazat”, Mira Hashmi. (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/gulzars-ijaazat-mira-hashmi?variant=39399512408098)

Thank you to the lovely Hina Khwaja Bayat: beloved actor and television personality, who is also one of the founding members of the Joy of Urdu Karachi Chapter. Although she was fortunately able to join us for the event, she initially thought she would be traveling at the time, and would be unable to join us, so she shared the poetry of a song from the 1961 Bollywood film Dharmputra, written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Asha Bhosle, which showcases Sahir’s mastery of poetic imagery elevatong this lesser known Bollywood song.

“Main jab bhi akeli hoti hoon
Tum chupke se aa jaate ho...”




‎ #اردو
‎ #شعر
‎ #شاعری
‎ #اشعار
‎ #اردوشاعری