India’s Poetic Rebel

A man with the ability to move masses with his poetry, Rahat Indori was a political poet, Urdu professor and Bollywood lyricist. He was born on January 1, 1950.

Rahat Indori doing what he does best - reciting his poetry at an event. Source: Times of India

Whether it be TikTok trends, Bollywood lyrics or slogans of political protest, Rahat Indori’s way with words has appealed to different crowds over his career. Born on January 1, 1950, he was born as Rahat Qureshi in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. In his younger days, Indori worked as a sign-painter, and later as a poster-painter for several Bollywood banners and posters. Apart from literature, Indori was also a keen sports enthusiast, who captained college and school level teams for cricket and hockey.

Rahat Qureshi’s love for his home-town made him change his name to reflect the same emotion. Now Rahat Indori, he was brought up in the city where he trained to be a scholar in Urdu literature. After completing his doctorate in the subject, he taught at the Devi Ahalya University for more than a decade. Simultaneously, he kept his poetic spirit alive by writing and reciting Urdu and Hindi poetry. Slowly, his work started gaining recognition and he began travelling internationally to recite poetry, to places like the United States, Britain and Australia.

Rahat Indori made his entry into Bollywood as a solid lyricist, who wrote about sentimental concepts such as love and longing, along with underlying hints towards social issues such as the status of women in society. He wrote the lyrics for many hit songs, included in Bollywood movies such as Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Prem Aggan. A poem that he penned down, titled “Bulati Hai Magar Jaane Ka Nahi” was doing the rounds on TikTok and went viral on Instagram around Valentines' week in 2020.

While this meme did not last around too long, his phrase “Kisi Ke Baap Ka Hindustan Thodi Hai” resounded much more with audiences, and is remembered as a staple slogan of the anti-CAA/NRC protests in 2020.

Tragically though, during the months of the pandemic, Indori tested positive for Covid-19. Rahat Indori breathed his last at the Aurobindo Hospital in Indore where he had been admitted. He later succumbed to a cardiac arrest in August 2020.