Sudarshan Faakir, poet and lyricist whose ghazals and some nazms were sung by Begum Akhtar in her last phase and Jagjit Singh in his early phase in the 1970s and 1980s died on 19 Feb in Jalandhar. He will be remembered as one of the significant though minor poets of the language. In context of the language issue, it needs to be remarked that he belonged to the small and diminishing tribe of non- Muslim Urdu poets from East Punjab. Krishna Adeeb, who passed away couple of years back and Joginder Lal (known by his nome de plume Naqsh Lyallpuri) are others that come to mind. His compositions may not have been prolific, but each is remarkable for its profundity and perfection.

He is the first Lyricist to have won a Filmfare Award for the very First Song he wrote. Apart from the hits like 'Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti', he was famous for a Religious Number - 'Hey Ram... Hey Ram'. He is the Writer of National NCC Sog of India- 'Hum Sab Bhartiya Haion'. Aprt from Non-Film Music, Sudarshan Faakir has Penned Songs from various Films also. He will be remembered as one of the significant though minor poets of the language. In context of the language issue, it needs to be remarked that he belonged to the small and diminishing tribe of non- Muslim Urdu poets from East Punjab. His compositions are remarkable for its profundity and perfection.

Faakir was an MA in political science and English from DAV College, Jalandhar. Active in dramatics and poetry right from his college days, he directed Mohan Rakesh’s play “Ashaar ka ek din” in his youth. 

He lent his voice to AIR, Jalandhar before he left for Bombay where he later wrote for music directorJaidev. His song ‘Zindagi, zindagi, mere ghar aana zindagi' from Bhim Sen’s ‘Dooriyan’ as well as dialogues for the film ‘Yalgaar’ are popular till date. It is also claimed that the song, “Hum sab Bhartiya hain”, which is sung at the NCC camps across the country, was penned by him.

A perfectionist to the core, he labored hard over his poetry. Faakir is perhaps one of the last of the tribe of vanishing poets who lived for poetry and it is noteworthy that he put together his poetry in an anthology and published his first ‘diwan’ only after he became a much-celebrated poet.

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