Acclaimed Urdu poet Rahat Indori, 70, died of a heart attack at the Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on August 11, 2020, while being treated for COVID-19. He was buried at Chhoti Khajrani graveyard in Indore’s Nanda Nagar. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.
He was born as Rahat Qureshi to a cloth mill worker and his wife, and studied at Nutan School in Indore and graduated from Islamia Karimia College Indore. In 1975, he passed MA in Urdu literature from Barkatullah University, Bhopal and was awarded a PhD in Urdu literature from the Bhoj University in 1985 for his thesis titled ‘Urdu Main Mushaira’. He changed his name to suit the world of Urdu poetry and mushaira, and to turn it into an ode to the city of Indore, which was his home for 70 years.
Rahat Indori, an Urdu scholar of great repute, was one of the biggest mushaira (poetry symposiums) stars, celebrated in the country and abroad. This teacher-turned-poet was fearless in his craft and did not hesitate to call a spade a spade. His verse easily connected with the young generation. Earlier on in 2020, his poem “Bulati hai magar jane ka nahi” went viral on social media, making him a sensation among the youth. Memes using the poem’s opening lines flooded social media during Valentine’s Day.
He had a long career span of five decades in poetry, and was known for the lyrics of songs in mainstream Bollywood movies like “M Bole toh” from Munnabhai MBBS (2003), “Chori Chori Jab Nazrein Mili” from Kareeb (1998), “Koi jaye to le aye” from Ghatak (1996), and “Neend Churai Meri” from Ishq (1997). His lyrics were used in 11 Bollywood films.
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During the corona pandemic, Indori was documenting a crisis and finding new meanings for life, death, and everything in between.
Subah phir hai wohi maatam dar-o-deewar ke saath
Kitni laashen mere ghar aayengi akhbaar ke saath
(Yet again in the morning there’s mourning in every nook and corner/ How many corpses will come to my house along with the newspaper?)
While teaching Urdu literature at Islamia Karimia College, he started receiving invitations from all over India and abroad for the recital of his mushairas.
In 2019, an old poem of his, “Agar khilaf hai hone do”, found a new lease of life amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The line “Sabhi ka khoon hai shaamil yahan ki mitti mein/ kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai” (Everybody’s blood mingles in the soil here; Hindustan does not belong solely to any one) resonated in many rallies.
He was a people’s person—always surrounded by fans, signing autographs, and enjoying a lot of affection from the audience. However, his sharp poetry on matters of political interest, polarisation, and communal issues found attention among his detractors and admirers alike.