Eminent poet, writer and educationist Hasan Akbar Kamal died on Friday. He obtained his master’s degree in English literature and taught at different educational institutions of the country. He had also written the lyrics of many patriotic and romantic songs during his lifetime.
‘Sukhan’ and ‘Khushbu Jaisi Baat’ are two of his popular collections of poems. He penned down lyrics of some pop songs during 90’s, among which ‘Hum Hai Pakistani Hum To Jeetein Ge’, by Vital Signs became most popular. He also wrote various novels for children which include ‘Rustam Khan’, ‘Chacha Khairu’, ‘Mallah Ka Bhoot’ and ‘Adam khoron Ka Jazeera’. He earned Adamjee Adabi award for his collection of poem ‘Khizan Mera Mausam’
Renowned Prof Sahar Ansari while talking to Dawn Newspaper said,
“He was a dear friend. I had known him ever since his first collection of poems Sukhan was published. He had a fine critical faculty, and also published a collection of naats. He was a creative, humble man and well-read individual. He taught English at Delhi College for a long time. He had a degree in English literature and was fond of Romantic English poets Wordsworth and Keats. His Urdu poems were regularly published in the literary journal Seep. His death has saddened me.”
Sahira Kazmi, who had worked with him on several projects also shared her thoughts,
“He was a very fine person. He wrote quite a few songs for PTV. One of the most popular songs that I did with him was the theme song ‘Hansti Khanakti Hui’ for Dhoop Kinare. Actually I had recorded it first for a show, Rang Tarang, which I used to do. I had sat down with him to discuss its subject. Then when I set out to do Dhoop Kinare, I used it as its theme track. He had written many verses but we couldn’t use them all for a TV programme, so we used two or three. I had requested him to write it in simple Urdu, which he did. He wrote lyrics for some of my other projects as well. He was a kind man.”
His contributions in patriotic and romantic songs will always keep him alive.
