This blog post is dedicated to the works of popular authors of regional languages who often do not live to see the success and popularity that their works eventually achieve. This post seeks to highlight the fact that there are various Indian authors who have produced some of the finest literary works and yet, never earned significant amount of money from their works. There have been instances where through the passage of time the identity of the original author is lost and while the work remains extremely popular, the author is long forgotten.
This is the exact situation for the famous ghazal ‘Na kisi ki Ankh ka noor hoon, na kisi ke dil ka qarar hoon‘ [Neither do I bring brightness/joy to anyone’s eyes, nor do I reside in anyone’s heart] which is often associated with the last Mughal Emperor in India -Bahadur Shah Zafar in his last few years. It has been widely believed that this ghazal was his work and the melancholy in the couplet ideally suits his personality and the circumstances that he was living in (towards the end of his life). Bahadur Shah Zafar was in fact known to be an aficionado of poetry and himself was a very expressive and articulate poet however, this particular ghazal is not among his works of poetry. It has been claimed recently that the original poet is said to be Mustar Khairabadi (grandfather of popular lyricist cum writer Javed Akhtar). Javed Akhtar has stated in an interview that his grandfather had indeed penned down the poem; the poem has been published in a five set volume of books under the title ‘Khirman’. This has given rise to a new dispute whether Bahadur Shah Zafar was the original author or is it really Mustar Khairabadi? this question will remain unanswered it seems.
On a similar note, one of India’s finest literary authors is Munshi Premchand, his works have been read and loved by a lot of all people of different age groups but the truth of the matter is that he himself died in a state of poverty. His works were protected by virtue of copyright laws but the implementation (this was the pre-independence day era) and remuneration at that time were really less. Adding to these factors is the reasoning that many authors are usually not aware of the extent to which the works can be used as a source of income, for instance, translation into different languages itself would not only increase the market for the author but also the revenues. Munshi Premchand’s works were not heavily translated (unlike Tagore) and hence, never received as much recognition and income as it ought to have. His successors might have had more luck because by then India had gained independence and in 1997 all his works were within the public domain.
The only question that I will like to put through this small blog/rambling is what is more important for an author the popularity of the work or the revenues it generates? A politically correct answer would be both but then, if one looks at these instances then it is quite evident that these amazing authors penned down their work irrespective of the monetary advantage. Again, does this mean that the concept of a quid pro quo for copyright laws is flawed? because, the creators would anyway create and publish their work irrespective of the financial aspect (also, the YouTube video uploaders confirm to this logic). Maybe evaluating every creation solely in terms of money is unfair considering that most of the authors have a deep sense of attachment to their works, disparaging of their work is definitely a bigger concern and is protected under the Moral Rights of an author . While no monetary compensation is a strict no-no, it can be argued that a just compensation is adequate, enforcing copyright to an extreme too is unfair for the society (the Happy Birthday song was worth thousands of dollars when covered by copyright! read here). Also, the main concern is that the artist should not be forgotten for their valuable contribution. The controversy regarding Bahadur Shah Zafar’s couplets seems to be pointing towards this issue and is a reminder that may be moral rights of the author are far more important than monetary compensation.
Image Courtesy: https://popcornlawindia.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/happy-birthday-in-public-domain-now/
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