An original rebel and his song

The iconic protest song is having a moment cloaked in laughable ridicule

And to think that Coke Studio Pakistan (CSP) got a lot of flak for editing out lines, from what is, arguably, the father of all protest songs to emerge out of the subcontinent! Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge’, of which CSP has, quite simply, the best version ever, is having its moment in India. And one cloaked in laughable inanity. Javed Akthar rightly said it is absurd to even begin discussing if Faiz was anti-Hindu. Indeed, it is beyond sadness that in today’s atmosphere of deep polarisation, both Faiz, the original rebel, and the song he wrote at the height of Zia Ul Haq’s dictatorial Islamisation of Pakistan, are being portrayed in such foolishly reductive terms.

Coming back to CSP’s version of ‘Hum Dekhenge’. Despite the chopping of the iconic two lines, ‘sab taaj uchaale jayenge, sab takht giraaye jayenge’, it manages to make a political statement while remaining inordinately catchy. Folk singers, rap stars, qawwali giants, sufi legends and popstars, all appear one by one, to sing a line of the nazm and the overall effect is one of an entire nation standing up for inclusivity, unity and syncretism. (The nation here happens to be Pakistan).

Subtle touches like the transgender singers mouthing ‘jo mey bhi hu aur tum bhi ho’ makes the song a powerful cry against discrimination and recalls the legendary Iqbal Bano in a jet-black saree singing it in front of a 50,000-strong Lahore crowd in defiance of everything that Zia Ul Haq and his ilk stood for.

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