Shaukat Azmis Kaifi and I is a heartwarming account of a headstrong,beautiful and talented girl from Hyderabad who fell for a Bombay-based communist poet from Azamgarh and about their putting a life together,very much on their own terms. Shaukat has included some tiny details and memories from the early days of their romance (a difficult one to conduct especially in those days,between a Shia and a Sunni,a well-to-do woman and a communist wedded to a life in a commune),which make this book very endearing. From her recounting of the difficulties when they were making a case to get married to the initial hesitation of drinking tea together in Bombay,the brew not served in the teapot and crockery she was used to,its a free-flowing narrative that offers glimpses into the times,into life as a partner of a struggling poet,quite like the metaphor the struggle in Bombay was made out to be. Shaukat fondly recalls her being taken under the wings of P.C. Joshi,who urges her to go out and earn a living,as Kaifi was a whole-timer,getting just what the Communist party gave him as subsistence. Her first hesitant steps in the city,then securing a role in a radio play,and getting paid Rs 10 for what were the beginnings of her efforts to support her husband. The Introduction is written by the renowned Urdu/Persian academic,the late professor Ralph Russell,and he makes a perceptive point about how Shaukats observations,despite not coming from a political point of view,serve as a story about what the CPI was going through then. For example,Russell remarks how the book tells much,despite not talking of politics directly,of the period of B.T. Ranadives domination of the party which he calls terrible days and when everyone came to suspect everyone else and of the distress this caused her. Shaukat did not have any stake in Kaifis politics and has firmly stayed a non-card holder. But it was a lifelong commitment in which she shared his ideals and ideas,yet stayed very much her own person. Best remembered today for her spectacular roles in Garam Hawa,Junoon and Umrao Jaan (as Khanam Jaan),Shaukat in her wondrous flowing garments and signature Hyderabadi style endured much to be with Kaifi. She has spoken openly of the horror she experienced when Kaifi first told her of his desire to move to Mijwan in Azamgarh,his native place,intent on doing what he could to change things in the backwaters. She did it,of course,despite all the reservations of a city girl. The book is of interest as it not only sketches two lives that are well worth knowing in the context of Bombay cinema,but also gives glimpses of others who grew into formidable names. Little tales litter the pages of Kaifis Young Writers Association that comprised Sagar Sarhadi and Gulzar,among others,and Chetan Anand walking in dramatically to commission Kaifi for Haqeeqat,which led to the memorable Kar chale ham fida jan-o-tan sathiyon/ Ab tumhare hawale watan sathiyon.
