Though we both were born in Jammu, some 20 years apart, I never met Ved Rahi in Jammu. When he was attaining prominence as a writer in the Dograland, I was away studying in the Uttar Pradesh. And, as I returned home, he had already left for Mumbai in search of realisation of his dreams.
Ved Rahi was born to Lala Mulk Raj Saraf, a journalist acknowledged as the father of journalism in Jammu and Kashmir. Growing up in Jammu, I was rather close to the entire family of Ved Rahi, back home. I was in regular touch with his family. The reason was that writing was one of the passions I pursued as a student and many members of the Saraf family pursued journalism as a career.
Besides, I interacted closely with three of Ved Ji’s elder brothers : Om Saraf, Suraj Saraf and Prem Saraf. His fifth brother Sat Saraf lived in Delhi. Om Saraf Ji was a friend of my father and always a beacon of inspiration to me. All the NextGen Saraf siblings were my contemporaries and, by and large, my good friends too.
So, when I eventually met Ved Rahi in Mumbai, it was almost a home coming feeling ! If I recall correct, my first meeting with Ved Rahi, the film maker, happened sometime in 1978. I was already with the Indian Air Force. My interest in films, theater and literature invariably attracted me to Mumbai and I was as frequent a visitor to the city as my busy schedules and duties in the IAF would permit.
Those days Ved Ji was busy with his film “Kali Ghata”, starring Rekha, Shashi Kapoor and Danny Denzongpa, among others. This was the first film of Ved Ji as a producer.
There were many occasions for me to visit Mumbai. Invariably, I desired to meet Ved Ji, and many times I succeeded in catching up with him. Whenever we met, it was a very homely atmosphere I enjoyed. He is a simple man in the real sense. No tantrums, no pretensions, just straight from the heart attitude.
Ved Rahi is a multi talented personality. He has proved his mettle in films through excellence as a writer, director and producer. He has written stories, screenplays and dialogues with great success. His film “Veer Savarkar” is a class by itself. It fetched him much acclaim. According to one reviewer this film is “definitely a must-see for anyone even remotely interested in Indian history and current affairs”. It is claimed to be the first movie in the world financed by public donations.
Essentially, I would say, Ved Rahi is a thinker par excellence ; his literature, poems, short stories and novels say it all. He was decorated with a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983, for his Dogri short stories collection “Aale”. In 2014, he was presented Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan Award for the year 2011. Again, he was decorated with Kusumagraj Rashtriya Sahitya Puraskar, 2019.
In an illustrious career spanning over six decades, in films and literature, Ved Rahi has written with distinction 25 films, besides directing five. His literary journey has produced short stories, novels and poems. He is as comfortable writing in Hindi and Urdu as he is in his mother tongue Dogri.
His stint with the television brought him into limelight, not many others have come across. His magnum opus was ” Gul, Gulshan, Gulfam”, which ran on Doordarshan with much glory. It ran for 45 episodes directed by Ved Rahi.
The serial is the story of a Kashmiri family who runs three houseboats for their livelihood. The title of the serial relates to the names of these houseboats : Gul, Gulshan, Gulfam. It was premiered on the television screen in the year 1987 when terrorism was in its infancy in the valley of Kashmir. The viewers all across the country were glued to their televisions to watch each of the highly popular episodes. The serial is written by Pran Kishore, a renowned writer from Srinagar, Kashmir.
Ved Rahi also directed “Katha Sagar”, a series based on the best short stories of the literature. This too was a highly appreciated series directed by him, besides “Zindagi”, “Ehsaas” and ” Rishte”.
His works in films, short stories and novels have overshadowed Ved Rahi as a poet of substance. His poems mirror his reflections as a thinker. I would like you, dear readers to be acquainted with Ved Rahi, the poet ; you already know him for his short stories, novels, film dialogues and screenplays, as also his directorial abilities for the films.
How I wish, cutting across all divides of all kinds, we, the Dogras, had risen in unison and demanded a Padma Bhushan for Ved Rahi. A mere Padma Shri would just club him with the pygmies.
Today, I would like you to meet Ved Rahi, the poet ; so far you have met only a film maker and prose writer in him. I am enclosing an endearing poem of his, in translation, executed by that indomitable Dogra soul called Colonel Shivnath, writer and essayist, himself a Sahitya Akademi Award winner :
Words
Quite a few words have left the field,
they are sitting on the sidelines
Sad, down-cast;
now no one uses them.
Their meanings have boarded life-boats
and deserted the sinking ships
like some frightened passengers.
On the other hand,
many words are surging forward eagerly towards new horizons.
They’ve been globalized;
the supremacy of word market
is beckoning them.
Look at these words-
how fondly they are
joining other words
to supplement their strength;
and there, quite a few words
are lying in wait for a chance
too clandestinely hijack
the meaning of others.
Some words
are bored with their beauty
Anyone, everyone is going after them aimlessly.
Some words keep sulking
all the twenty-four hours,
too touchy, coquettish,
they don’t talk to any one.
Some words are loving, large-hearted;
They open themselves up completely
before writers
like a lady-love shedding her clothes
before her lover
Many words are like the beats on a drum
bells of meaning follow them, confuse them Both, madly in love with each other,
keep dancing, intoxicated
continuously, in one tune.
Even in silence, words speak
like fireflies in darkness.
like tears in prayer
like hands in love-making,
There are words
which do not carry the burden of their meanings,
which are the same in all languages.
They speak
when a mother breast-feeds her infant
when a beloved makes love
or, when someone gets drowned
or, when a player scores a goal
or, when some musician
plays a note
which is his soul.
There are also words
which writers fear, avoid,
these are words which would’ve
given some-time in the past
the last drop of their identity
to some great writer
Ved Rahi is blessed with two beautiful, simple, but erudite daughters ; Anju Patel and Poonam Advani. His wife is as simple and affectionate a lady as you would imagine any true Dogra lady to be. As a family, we have been blessed by the couple Ved Rahi with plenty of love and care. Wishing him all the luck with his health.
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