Love - desired, fulfilled, sublimated, subverted, or thwarted - is the bedrock of Hindi film songs but scarcely anything can beat the expressively bold, yet, elegantly simple landmark song from "Mughal-e-Azam".
Especially when the radiant - and bewitchingly defiant - Anarkali, having already goaded the mighty monarch with her declaration of fearless love, goes on to ask: "Parda nahi jab koi Khuda se, bandon se parda karna kya?"
Surprisingly enough, the lines came from the unassuming, independent-minded Shakeel Badayuni, who was no dyed-in-the-wool radical revolutionary like most of his contemporaries (Sahir Ludhianvi for one), but for all that, considered matchless in portraying all phases of the human condition besides celebrating India's diversity.
What would Hindi classics like "Mughal-e-Azam", "Mother India", "Aan", "Chaudhvin ka Chand", "Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam", "Baiju Bawra", "Bees Saal Baad", "Ganga Jamuna" and others without their songs? Set to captivating music by a range of maestros and rendered with gusto and verve by a gamut of talented singers, they are also remembered for their memorable words -- all courtesy Shakeel Ahmed 'Shakeel Badayuni', whose 107th birth anniversary was yesterday (August 3).
One of the gifted, already famous poets the Hindustani film industry could attract, Shakeel also demonstrated that the skill of poetry can be intrinsic, not inherited, for none of his close relatives was a poet.