AMRITA & SAHIR: A LOVE THAT NEVER ENDS

A conversation with playwright Saif Hyder Hasan about the reboot of his popular 2014 play nearly a decade after its premiere, inspired by the lives of poets Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

From the play Ek Mulaqat

EARNING and love have long been poetry’s most enduring subjects, often finding their deepest resonance in what remains unsaid. Romantic ache is the core of playwright Syed Hyder Hasan’s Ek Mulaqat based on the love story of poets Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi.

An audience beloved across the world, the play, taking off from the title, is about a single, fateful meeting between the two poets on Amrita’s terrace. It becomes an exploration of unrequited love, lingering desire, and poetry. First staged in 2014, it was revived early this year, nearly a decade after its premiere. "Ek Mulaqat was very popular, but we had to stop it for various reasons. Then COVID-19 happened. For a long time, we kept saying, ‘Let's do it.’ Finally, we fixed a date and started,” says Hasan.