Kamna Prasad’s latest quest for the Urdu is a documentary “Urdu & Modern India”. The film breaks the myth that language is dying, says Andalib Akhter
There could be a Kamna or desire in many hearts to keep the candle of Urdu alight in India, but there are few who take actual task of spreading the message of the language across the country. Noted socialite Kamna Prasad is among the few Urdu lovers who is not only associated with this beautiful language, but also working relentlessly to promote the language in its true essence. Kamana’s love for the langue itself proves that Urdu is not only the language of the Muslims, but also the language of the non Muslims in India.
Kamna who has edited many books on the subject, including one on Ghalib and another on Kabir also organizes the annual Jashn-e-Bahaar Mushaira in which leading Indian and Pakistani poets participate.
For her Urdu is not just a language , but an entire tradition. “If we won’t teach our future generation this heritage of love and poetry would be lost forever,” she feels.
Kamana’s latest quest for the Urdu is a documentary “Urdu & Modern India” profiling the 
current phase in the journey of Urdu and breaking the myth that language is dying. The film is made for the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs to be premiered in New Delhi on November 30.
Documentary made both in English and Urdu portrays Urdu as a grand language that lives in the hearts of Indians. It views the story of Urdu in modern times as the story of modern India. The story of a language with a unique distinction of going way beyond its script, beyond all boundaries.
“This language mirrors our pluralistic, rich heritage. This film captures the journey of Urdu as it evolves with the times and linking the vibrant present with its rich past,” says Kamna Prasad proudly.
Praising the language she says that it has always responded to the needs of the times and fulfilled numerous roles – as a people’s language – as the language of love, of protest, of high literature and popular culture. “Above all, Urdu is the language in which India communicates. Its’ India’s identity, its India’s way of life”, she underlines.
Replete with many surprise elements that point at many places where we use Urdu but are hardly aware of doing so, the film takes us to M F Husain’s studio in London, where the eminent artist lovingly uses Urdu lines form the Bollywood film ‘Mughal-e-Azam” as calligraphy on a painting of Hindustan, to express his love for his homeland.
The film negate the perception that Urdu is a dying language and shows that it is being spoken by more people than ever before in India and worldwide. It juxtaposes classical Urdu compositions being sung by doyens with the same songs being rendered in modern style by youth.
The goes on to show how the widespread computerization in the ‘90s enabled Urdu to join the Info-tech super highway. It says there was a new feeling of responsibility towards this beautiful language. It expanded as a medium to express every modern thought, for learning all disciplines from the sciences to the arts and matched any other language for ensuring success in the top echelons in India. It showcases young people who chose to write India’s top competitive examinations in Urdu and made it to the list of bureaucracy.
It quotes leading academics to say that more and more people want to study the beautiful language which, sometimes, surprises them too. And, talks to many children and youth, who understand that Urdu is another name of India’s composite culture.
The half hour documentary ably traces the genesis and evolution of the Urdu as a .jpg)
language born in India and how it can now be heard across the globe. The film surmises that Urdu, that was born in the camps of the army, is today the language of love and peace.
Directed by Aparna Srivastava Reddy the film renders a very modern style, looks at the journey of the language in the realms of everyday communication, popular culture, high literature and the mass media alike.
Interestingly, the film opens to a modern sounds cape of Urdu and rounds up towards the end with a visual montage to show where those sounds were placed, the wide panorama of people speaking the language in several accents, from an economic cross-section and wide range of places and milieus.