Urdu poetry still inspires people. While finding a sher or shayar is an issue, some platforms are giving a renewed push to a tradition in crisis.

Braj Bhasha controversy teaches us that languages are not just means of communication—they are repositories of memory, ...

Purani Dilli to Ayodhya, Fouzia Dastango is reimagining Hindu epics to Meena Kumari’s story in Urdu. Crowds love it.

Zaban-e-Urdu hai jiska naam, Woh Hindustan ki jaan hai.” The language called Urdu is the life of Hindustan. Prologue: A ...

Arabic and Persian not only shaped the literary culture of thetime but also influenced the direction in which it developed.

Beyond her celebrated image as the “Tragedy Queen” of Hindi cinema, Meena Kumari was an accomplished poet. She wrote under ...

CM Naim’s translation of 19th-century reformer Ashrafunnisa Begum’s biography was published in 2021. Naim, a translator and ...

Shahid Alam and I go back a long way, though we had both half-forgotten it until recently. He was two years senior to me at ...

In his short yet impactful life span of 39 years, filmmaker Guru Dutt left a lasting impressions. Although he directed only 8 ...

Poetry: Spiritual and TerreneBy Syed Afsar Sajid1. ‘Luhu Lal Ghari: (Marsiye)’ by Iqtidar Javed2. ‘Bay Baal-o-Par’ by Prof.

To watch the restored Umrao Jaan is to open an old chest stuffed with barely creased clothing and baubles that are still ...