Bollywood, India Inc pay homage

As a pall of gloom enveloped Prateeksha — named after one of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poetry collections — the city was in f...

As a pall of gloom enveloped Prateeksha — named after one of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poetry collections — the city was in full attendance. Thousands arrived to pay homage to the literary giant who also happened to be a Bollywood icon’s father.

As the news spread, Bollywood badshahs and politicos started trickling in as early as 8 am. Over a hundred police personnel, including two platoons of the SRPF, kept watch.

Hindi poetry loses its Omar Khayyam
Mumbai: Harivansh Rai Bachchan — ‘‘the Omar Khayyam of Hindi’’ — was an iconoclast, his style direct and conversational. ‘‘He took Hindi poetry to the common man,’’ says Dr Shashibhushan Vajpai, former president of the Maharashtra Hindi Sahitya Akademi.

Some of his contemporaries dismissed his poetry as ‘‘Halavaad (propagating liquor) yet Madhushala, inspired by Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, pitchforked him to popularity. Born in 1907 in Allahabad, Bachchan attended Kayasth Pathshala High School, and toured UP as a correspondent of The Pioneer, taught English at Allahabad University and earned his doctorate on W.B. Yeats from Cambridge. Later, he joined the MEA as its Hindi officer and also became a RS member.

Amitabh had recited Jivan Ki Apadhapi on his 60th birthday last year. ‘‘Jeevan ki apadhapi mein kab waqt mila kuchh soch karun/ Jeevan mein jo mila usmein kya bura bhala…(When did I get time to think what I got in life/ Whatever life bestowed, I accepted). The poet may not have regretted unrealised dreams, but the world of Jivanvad (poetry of life) has lost its mascot. Mohammed Wajihuddin

Tinu Anand and David Dhawan were among those who came early. Amrish Puri came a little later. ‘‘An era of Hindi literature has ended,’’ Puri said.

‘‘I know Bachchanji from his Delhi days. It’s not only a loss to Hindi poetry, but also to Maharashra’s cultural life,’’ said newly sworn-in CM Sushilkumar Shinde. Accompanied by Minister of State for Home Kripashankar Singh and actor-son Ritesh, former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh came too.

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At around 2.35 pm, the funeral procession left for the Vaikunth Dham Crematorium at Ruia Park. As senior citizens, collegians, families, street children spilled into the streets, policing the crowds was a mammoth task. Anil Ambani kept appealing to lensmen to switch off their cameras.

Abhishek carried the agni while Amitabh and brother Ajitabh led the pall-bearers. The procession reached the crematorium half-an-hour later as chants of Harivansh Rai Bachchan Amar Rahein (Long Live Harivansh Rai Bachchan) echoed.

Anil Ambani coordinated the activities during the funeral. As the mourners left, Ajitabh, Abhishek and Abhishek waited at the exit, hands folded.