Famed poet Qateel Shifai remembered on 12th death anniversary

ISLAMABAD: Renowned Urdu poet Qateel Shifai was remembered on his death anniversary Thursday.

Qateel was born on 24 December 1919 in Haripur, Hazara Division, British India.

He adopted Qateel Shifai as his pen name in 1938 under which he was known in the world of Urdu poetry. "Qateel" was his "takhallus" (penname) and "Shifai" was in honor of his teacher Hakim Mohammed `Shifa' whom he considered his mentor.

In 1946, he was called to Lahore by Nazir Ahmed to work as the assistant editor of the monthly “Adab-e-Latif”, a literary magazine published since 1936.

His first ghazal was published in the Lahore weekly “Star”, edited by Qamar Jalalabadi. In January 1947, Qateel was asked to pen the songs
for a film by a Lahore-based film producer. The first film he authored lyrics for was "Teri Yaad" (1948). He won numerous awards as a lyricist.

Many of his poetry collections were published, however the anthology, which got him the highest literature award in Pakistan was "Mutriba". Over 20 of his collections of verse and more than 2,500 songs for Pakistani/Indian films were published.

His poetry has been translated into numerous languages including Hindi, Gujarati, English, Russian and Chinese.

Qateel Shifai received the “Pride of Performance Award” in 1994 for his contribution to literature, “Adamjee Award”, “Naqoosh Award”, `Abbasin Arts Council Award' and `Amir Khusro Award' in India.

He died on 11 July 2001 in Lahore. (APP)