Alam says, “As a scholar of Persian and Arabic, he was one of the first critics of Ghalib. The freedom fighter started writing poetry during his school days and is credited with contributing to the revival of classic form of Urdu poetry which he insisted has a place in the society. The remaining episodes feature Ravi Shastri of National School of Drama as Mohani. The research done then proved very helpful and this production was a dream come true for me.”Įight of the episodes show Maulana below 40 years and Alam states that the reason is, “he had achieved a lot between the age of 18 and 40.” This role is enacted by Ahmad Omair, a student of Delhi University who has been part of Pierrot’s Troupe for last five years.

“Earlier too a play on him was planned but somehow it never materialised. Gulati did not find the subject difficult. Ironically the university has a hostel named after him. Incidentally Maulana was the first student of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (MAOC) which later became Aligarh Muslim University, to be rusticated. In 1904 he joined the Congress.”īoth the directors extensively researched the subject, read several books and also met many people to come up with an authentic portrayal. A discipline of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, he went to jail in 1903, when political prisoners were treated as common criminals and forced to do manual labour. Explaining in detail, Alam said, “Mohani was a precursor to Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Nehru, Sardar Patel, etc. Sayeed Alam one of the co-directors of the serial who has also written the screenplay and dialogues. Maulana Mohani was a multi-faceted personality to whom history had not done justice,” said. “Being fascinated with history and biographies in particular, I enjoy studying famous personalities. Many moviegoers may recall the popular ghazal, “Chupke chupke raat din” sung by Ghulam Ali in the Hindi film “Nikaah”, which was penned by him. All the facets of this figure are highlighted in “Mujhid-e-Azadi Maulana Hasrat Mohani”, a 13-episode serial being telecast on DD Urdu. Indian history is replete with examples of personalities whose attributes are not only pertinent today but also worth emulating by the current generation of public figures and commoners alike.Ī case in point is that of Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a romantic Urdu poet, journalist, politician, a freedom fighter and member of the Constituent Assembly.

Chupke chupke gazal song