‘My music, my films, my poetry — all begin with Bashir Badr’: Vishal Bhardwaj

Even after dementia had taken away much of his memory, legendary Urdu poet Bashir Badr would still respond to the mention of filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj’s name — a reflection of a friendship that shaped the director’s life and creative journey for more than four decades.

Bhardwaj, speaking to PTI following Badr’s death at the age of 91, described the poet not merely as a literary influence but as one of the defining figures of his life.

“The track of poetry in my life is the strongest part of my personality, my creativity. My music is because of my poetry. My films are because of my poetry,” Bhardwaj said, adding that he regarded Badr and poet-lyricist Gulzar as parental figures who helped shape his artistic sensibility.

The filmmaker said he was only 19 when he first encountered Badr’s poetry in Meerut, where the poet taught and lived. The introduction came through Badr’s daughter, who was a classmate of Bhardwaj’s sister. After borrowing one of the poet’s books, the young Bhardwaj spent an entire night copying verses into his diary.

What began as admiration soon evolved into a close friendship.

Bhardwaj recalled visiting Badr almost every weekend, listening to newly written poems and memorising them with remarkable ease. Those visits became even more significant after a tragic turning point in Badr’s life.

Recovering poetry from memory

In 1987, Badr’s house in Meerut was burned down in communal violence, destroying much of his unpublished work. Around the same period, he also lost his first wife and slipped into depression. It was during that painful phase that he wrote some of his most memorable lines, including the widely quoted verse: “Log toot jaate hain ek ghar banane mein, tum taras nahi khate bastiya jalane mein.”

Bhardwaj said his own memory became an unexpected archive.

“I could remember 90 per cent of what he had narrated to me. He would ask me about those couplets and I would narrate them back. I helped him retrieve at least 90 per cent of the poetry,” he recalled.

The director described evenings spent with Badr and the poet’s friend Prem Bhandari as some of the most formative experiences of his youth.

A bond that endured decades

As Bhardwaj established himself first as a music composer and later as one of Hindi cinema’s most acclaimed filmmakers, the friendship endured. Badr’s poetry found its way into Bhardwaj’s creative work, including films such as Betaabi, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar and Dedh Ishqiya. The filmmaker has also independently composed and released several of Badr’s ghazals and is set to release another composition based on the poet’s writing next month.

Bhardwaj said Badr was among the first people to recognise his talent.

“Even when I was struggling, he would tell everyone, ‘You have to trust me when I say that this boy is very talented,’” he recalled.

In later years, even as dementia progressed, flashes of memory remained. Bhardwaj recounted an incident when Badr had stopped speaking for days but unexpectedly completed one of his own forgotten couplets, leaving everyone around him stunned.

The filmmaker said he still gifts copies of Badr’s poetry to people he deeply cares about, considering it one of the most meaningful things he can share. For him, the poet’s influence extends far beyond literature.

“He was a saint, a beautiful saint. All poets are saints, but Bashir Badr was a saint of some other level,” Bhardwaj said.

Bhardwaj is expected to attend a memorial meeting for the poet at Ravindra Bhawan in Bhopal on 4 June.