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Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
"It would have been better if I had not joined politics," said a candid Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Sunday. "I want to write poetry again. And this time too, I will not write on death but sing a song of life. The poet in me is defeated, but not dead."
Though bang in the middle of an important election campaign, Vajpayee was in an introspective mood at a rare function at the Siri Fort Auditorium, where a distinguished and glamorous audience got to see Atal the poet more than Vajpayee the politician.
Samvedna, a new music album featuring Vajpayee's poetry set to music and sung by ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, was released by Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar. Movie star Shah Rukh Khan has acted in the music video.
Speaking on the occasion, Jagjit Singh said, "Samvedna's preface has been written by Javed Akhtar and recorded by Amitabh Bachchan. The poetry is by Prime Ministerji. Music is mine and the video has been directed by Yash Chopra while Shah Rukh Khan has acted in it. This looks unreal to me. I am proud of my dream, which has been realised today."
Javed Akhtar, himself a renowned poet and film lyricist, showered praise on Vajpayee. "I salute Atalji for keeping intact his vulnerability of a poet in the midst of the harsh realities of politics," he remarked. "His poems leave a deep impact. I have learnt a lot from the metaphors he has used. His dreams have a touch of pain, but he has not given up hope."
Shah Rukh Khan was the odd man in. In a short and witty speech, he said, "It's quite true that in India people don't recognise art. Look, we have made a good artiste a PM [ek achche artiste ko PM bana diya]!"
Khan ended by citing a couplet from Ghalib: Ishq ne Ghalib nikkama bana diya, varna hum aadmi the kamke". Paraphrasing this, he quipped, "On reading his [Vajpayee's] poems one feels that '...politics ne unhe nikkama bana diya, varna aadmi the ye kamke."
Laughing, Vajpayee replied, "I didn't become the PM; I was made the PM. And when the time comes I will demit the office. But if I decide to form a club of former PMs of India , I'll invite Shah Rukh too. And let me assure you, it's not so easy to act as the PM!"
Gauri Khan, industrialist R P Goenka and Zee chairman Subhash Goel were among those who attended the function. Jagjit Singh stole the audience's hearts by singing some of his old favourites along with Vajpayee's poems. The prime minister sat through the entire function, enjoying Singh's famous ghazal Ahista... ahista.
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