Syed Asghar Wajahat, popularly known as Asghar Wajahat (born 5 July 1946), is a Hindi scholar, fiction writer, novelist, playwright, an independent documentary filmmaker and a television scriptwriter,[1] who is most known for his work, 'Saat Aasmaan' and his acclaimed play, 'Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya, O Jamyai Nai', based on the story of an old Punjabi Hindu woman who gets left behind in Lahore, after the Partition of India, and then refuses to leave.[2]
He joined Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 1971 as a lecturer of Hindi, and later became a Professor and also the Head of the Department of Hindi in the university.[5]
Asghar Wajahat, Professor of Hindi at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi is a reputed Hindi writer also. He has published 20 books including five novels, six full-length plays, five collections of short stories, a travelogue, a collection of street plays and a book on literary criticism.
He has also written film scripts and conducted workshops on screen writing. He has been placed among the top ten Hindi writers according to a survey conducted by Outlook (Hindi) magazine in 2007.
His work has been translated to many Indian and foreign languages
A collection of his short stories in English entitled Lies: Half told ( ISBN81-87075-92-9) has also been published. An Italian translation of his stories was published by Centro de Studio de documentation, Universitá degli Studio de Venezia, in 1987.
Apart from his fiction, Wajahat regularly writes for various newspapers and magazines. He was guest Editor of BBCHindi.com for three months in 2007. He has also been associated with reputed Hindi literary magazines like Hans and Vartaman Sahitya as guest editor for their special issues on ‘Indian Muslims: Present and Future’ and ‘Pravasi Sahity’.
Wajahat has also been involved in Hindi cinema as a scriptwriter since 1975. He is now working on a film script for filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi. His one of the play has been adopted by Rajkumar Santoshi in a film titled 'Gandhi Godse: Ek Yudh' in 2023.[6] He himself has made few documentary films including a 20-minute on the development of Urdu Ghazal.
He has been honoured by several literary organisations for his contribution to Hindi literature. Katha (UK), a London-based organisation gave him the ‘Best novel of the year award’ in 2005 for his novel Kaisi Aagi Lagai.
Asgar Wajahat has been awarded the 31st Vyas Samman for his play "Mahabali". The award, presented by the K.K. Birla Foundation, recognizes outstanding literary work in Hindi. The play "Mahabali" explores the relationship between Mughal emperor Akbar and poet Tulsidas, questioning who the true "Mahabali" is.[7]
At present, he is Professor of Hindi, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. He was also the officiating director, A.J. Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi.
Plays
Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai
His most noted Partition play, Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, was first performed under the direction of Habib Tanvir in 1989, who subsequently took the play to Karachi, Lahore, Sydney, New York and Dubai.[1] The play has also been performed in several regional languages, a version of it has also been directed by theatre director Dinesh Thakur, Abhijeet Choudhary from Swatantra Theatre, Pune.
Lahore 1947: Movie based on Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai
Directly based on the play Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, director Rajkumar Santoshi and producer Aamir Khan are making the drama film, Lahore 1947. The movies stars Sunny Deol and Shabana Azmi in the central roles of Sikander Mirza and Mai, respectively. The movie is set to release in 2025.[8]
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