DAAERA ( THE CIRCLE ) DHANAK ( THE RAINBOW ) BOX SET

About the BookA COLLECTORS ITEM WITH POEMS BY KAIFI AZMI AND JAN NISAR AKHTAR, SELECTED BY THEIR CHILDREN, SHABANA AZMI AND JAVED AKHTARThis collectors edition of companion volumes Dhanak and Daaera is a treat for poetry-lovers everywhere. Selected and edited by Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, they showcase twenty-five nazms each from two of Indias most iconic Urdu poets, Jan Nisar Akhtar and Kaifi Azmi, in the Nastaliq and Devanagari scripts, as also in English translation by Sumantra Ghosal and Mir Ali Husain.About the AuthorKaifi Azmi (19192002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others, he participated in many memorable Mushaira gatherings of the twentieth century. His wife was a theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi and his daughter is Shabana Azmi.Jan Nisar Akhtar (19141976) was an Urdu poet and also a lyricist in Bollywood. His career spanned four decades, during which he worked with music composers including C. Ramchandra, O.P. Nayyar, N. Dutta and Khayyam and wrote 151 songs. Notable among them were songs from Guru Dutts CID (1956) and Kamal Amrohis Razia Sultan. His collection of poems Khaak-e-dil (Ashes of the Heart) was awarded the 1976 Sahitya Akademi Award. He is survived by his son Javed Akhtar.About the TranslatorsMir Ali Husain wears many hats. He is a management professor, poet, scriptwriter, translator, author and a storyteller. He has translated a collection of Javed Akhtars poems from Urdu to English, titled In Other Words.Sumantra Ghosal is known for his documentary work in the arts. Noteworthy among them are his three feature-length films: The Speaking Hand, based on the life of Ustad Zakir Hussain; The Unseen Sequence, based on the life of the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer Malavika Sarukkai and Kaifinama, based on the life of Kaifi Azmi.