Mirza Ghalib’s verses still resonate with every lover of poetry. His ghazals and poems have been a major influence in some literary works that followed him, and have found multiple expressions and interpretations in popular culture. Mira Ghalib was born on today – December 27.
Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule. His also known as ‘Mirza Asadullah Khan Galib’, ‘Mirza Galib’, ‘Dabir-ul-Mulk’ and ‘Najm-ud-Daula’. His pen-names was Ghaliband Asad or Asad or Galib. During his lifetime the Mughals were eclipsed and displaced by the British and finally deposed following the defeat of the Indian rebellion of 1857, events that he wrote of. Most notably, he wrote several ghazals during his life, which have since been interpreted and sung in many different ways by different people. He is considered, in South Asia, to be one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language. Ghalib today remains popular not only in India and Pakistan but also amongst diaspora communities around the world.
Indian cinema has paid a tribute to the legendary poet through a film (in sepia/black and white) named Mirza Ghalib (1954) in which Bharat Bhushan plays Ghalib and Suraiya plays his courtesan lover, Chaudvin. The musical score of the film was composed by Ghulam Mohammed and his compositions of Ghalib’s famous ghazals are likely to remain everlasting favourites. Pakistani cinema also paid tribute to the legendary poet, through another film also named Mirza Ghalib (1961). The film was directed and produced by M.M. Billoo Mehra for S.K. Pictures.
Gulzar produced a TV serial, Mirza Ghalib (1988), telecast on DD National that was immensely successful in India. Naseeruddin Shah played the role of Ghalib in the serial, and it featured ghazals sung and composed by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh. The serial’s music has since been recognised as Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh’s magnum opus, enjoying a cult following in the Indian subcontinent.
Ghazal maestros like Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Tina Sani, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Begum Akhtar, Ghulam Ali, Lata Mangeshkar, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have sung his ghazals. Many singers from all over South Asia have sung many of his ghazals.
Ghalib was used on his 220th birth anniversary by Search Engine Google which showed a special doodle on its Indian homepage for sympathy for its unethical business in Indian Subcontinent on 27 December 2017.
1. Mirza Ghalib was born Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, on December 27, 1797, in Kala Mahal, Agra, into a family that descended from Aibak Turks.
2. Ghalib lost his father Mirza Abdullah Baig when he was only a little over five years of age. He was raised by his uncle Mirza Nasrullah Baig Khan.
3. Ghalib settled in Delhi after marriage. The house he lived in Ballimaran, Old Delhi, is known as Ghalib ki Haveli, which has now been turned into the Ghalib Memorial.
4. Mirza Ghalib was extremely fond of eating. He loved mangoes.
5. Ghalib started composing poetry at the age of 11. While his first language was Urdu, he also received education in Persian and Arabic at a young age.
6. Mirza Ghalib was also a gifted letter writer and wrote the pieces in easy and popular Urdu.
7. Ghalib’s original pen name was Asad, taken from his original name Asadullah Khan. Later in his poetic career, he adopted the pen name of Ghalib.
8. In 1859, Mirza Ghalib was appointed as the poet tutor of emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II and as the royal historian of the Mughal court.
9. After his death on February 15, 1869, Ghalib was buried in Hazrat Nizamuddin near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya.
10. Mirza Ghalib was born in Agra into a family descended from Aibak Turks who moved to Samarkand after the downfall of the Seljuk kings.
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