Google Doodle is celebrating legendary poet Kaifi Azmi.
Today's Google Doodle celebrates Indian poet, songwriter and activist Kaifi Azmi's 101st birth anniversary. With work ranging from love poems to Bollywood songs, lyrics and screenplays, Kaifi Azmi was one of the most renowned poets of 20th century India.
Born Syed Athar Hussain Rizvi in 1919 in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh, Kaifi Azmi wrote his first poem at 11. He grew up to be inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India freedom movement of 1942 and later left for Mumbai to write for an Urdu newspaper.
Kaifi Azmi published his first collection of poems, Jhankar in 1943 and became a member of the influential Progressive Writers' Association that used writing to achieve socioeconomic reforms.
Kaifi Azmi won numerous awards for his work, including three Filmfare Awards, the prestigious Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, one of India's highest literary honours.
In one of his early and most famous poems, "Aurat," Kaifi Azmi spoke for women's equality, one of the causes he championed in his lifetime. He also founded an NGO to support various educational initiatives to improve the lives of rural women and families.
Kaifi Azmi is the father of veteran actress Shabana Azmi.