Qateel Shifai
Encyclopedia
Aurangzeb Khan or Qateel Shifai (24 December 1919 - 11 July 2001) (Urdu: قتیل شفا ئی ) was a Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i Urdu poet.

Early life

Qateel Shifai was born in Haripur, Hazara Division
Hazara Division
On the dissolution of West Pakistan in 1970, Hazara District and the two tribal agencies were merged to form the new Hazara Division with its capital at Abbottabad...

, British India (now Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

).

Career

He adopted Qateel Shifai as his pen name in 1938 under which he was known in the world of Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 poetry. "Qateel" was his "takhallus" and "Shifai" was in honour of his ustaad Hakim Mohammed 'Shifa' whom he considered his mentor.

Due to his father's early death, Qateel was forced to quit his education. He started his own sporting goods shop. Being unsuccessful in his business he decided to move to Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

, where he started working for a transport company and earned about 60 Rupees a month.

In 1946, he was called to Lahore by Nazir Ahmed to work as the assistant editor of the monthly 'Adab-e-Latif', a literary magazine published since 1936. His first ghazal was published in the Lahore weekly 'Star', edited by Qamar Jalalabadi
Qamar Jalalabadi
Qamar Jalalabadi , also known as Qamar Jalabadi , was a writer, particularly of soundtracks of Bollywood movies.-Early life:...

.

In January 1947, Qateel was asked to pen the songs of a film by a Lahore based film producer. The first film he penned the lyrics for was "Teri Yaad". After that there was no looking back. He won numerous awards as a lyricist. Many of his poem collections were published, one amongs them being "Mutriba" which got him the highest literature award in Pakistan.

To raise the standards of ghazals in films has been Qateel's primary contribution to Urdu poetry. This was already started by Tanvir Naqvi and Sahir Ludhianvi
Sahir Ludhianvi
Sahir Ludhianvi was a popular Urdu poet and Hindi lyricist and songwriter. Sahir Ludhianvi is his pseudonym...

, but perpetuated and concluded by Qateel Shifai. By using simple words and a larger amount of Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Qateel brought Urdu poetry closer to the masses. He established a certain standard to ghazals in films and gave them a certain respectability.

Qateel Shifai worked on numerous ghazal albums with Jagjit and Chitra Singh, as well as with Ghulam Ali to name a few.

Legacy

Over 20 collections of verse and over 2,500 songs for Pakistani and Indian films were published. His poetry has been translated into numerous languages including Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 and Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

.

Qateel Shifai received the 'Pride of Performance
Pride of Performance
Pride of Performance , is one of the highest civil award given and conferred by the Pakistan Government to Pakistan's citizens in recognition of distinguished merit in the fields of Literature, Arts, Sports, Medicines, and Science for civilians in most particular cases.The announcement of civil...

 Award' in 1994 for his contribution to literature, 'Adamjee Award', 'Naqoosh Award', 'Abbasin Arts Council Award' and 'Amir Khusro Award' in India.

Qateel Shifai produced a film in his mother language—Hindko—in 1970. It was the first Hindko film which was named "Qissa Khwani". The film was released in 1980.
He died on 11 July 2001 in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

. The street on which he lived in Lahore has been named Qateel Shifai Street after him. There is also a sector of Haripur city that has been named after him - Mohallah Qateel Shafai.

His poetry is included in the masters' level syllabus in many universities in Pakistan and India.

Filmography

  • Bade Dilwala (1999) (lyricist)
  • Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan (1999) (lyricist)
  • Auzaar (1997) (lyricist)
  • Naajayaz (1995) (lyricist) (as Qatil Shafai)
  • Sir (1993) (lyricist) (as Qateel Shafai)
  • Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee (1993) (Your Memories Have Returned) (lyricist) (as Qateel Shafai)
  • Tahqiqaat (1993) (lyricist) (as Cratil Sipahi)
  • Painter Babu (1983) (lyricist)
  • Shireen Farhad (1975) (lyricist)
  • Naila (1965) (lyricist)
  • Intezar (1956) (asst lyricist)
  • Gumnam (1954) (assisted Hakim Ahmad Shuja
    Hakim Ahmad Shuja
    Hakim Ahmad Shuja , MBE, was a famous Urdu and Persian poet, writer, scholar and mystic, from former British India, later Pakistan.- Background:...

     as junior lyricist)
  • Gulnaar (1953) (asst lyricist)
  • Teri Yaad (1948) (asst lyricist) - (Memories) (International: English title)

External links

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