Sagar Sarhadi
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A brief biography
Avijit Ghosh, March 23, 2021: The Times of India
Sagar Sarhadi wrote Yash Chopra’s sumptuous ode to romance, ‘Kabhi Kabhie’, and also directed ‘Bazaar’, a heart-breaking document on the ugly linkage between poverty, marriage and market.
The writer formed an enduring association with Chopra authoring the screenplay of the much talked-about flop (Silsila) and penning blockbusters such as Noorie and Chandni (dialogue). The relationship was formed after Chopra saw ‘Mirza Sahiban’, a Sarhadi play on Indo-Pak war. ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ (1976) followed. ‘Tanhaii’, ‘Bhagat Singh Di Wapsi’ and ‘Bhookha Bhajan Na Hoye Gopala’ are some of his acclaimed works as a playwright.
Originally named Ganga Sagar Talwar, Sarhadi was born in Baffa, near Abbottabad, in undivided India. He took on the surname Sarhadi, from director Zia Sarhadi who had impressed him with his progressive social films (Footpath, Hum Log), and because he himself came from the frontiers. Uprooted by Partition, his family came to Delhi via Srinagar. Later he moved to Bombay and worked as an Urdu translator. He quit because he wanted to be a professional writer.
Bazaar (1982), which he wrote and directed, was markedly different from the flowery romances that had earned him fame and fortune. Sarhadi directed several other movies such as ‘Tere Shaher Mein’, ‘Agla Mausam,’ , and Chausar (2018).
Among those who paid tribute to him were writer Javed Akhtar, lyricist Manoj Muntashir, director Anubhav Sinha and actor Hrithik Roshan. Sarhadi wrote the dialogues of Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, Roshan’s debut film, and of Deewana, Shah Rukh Khan’s first box-office smash.
