Bhubaneswar, July 27: It was a perfect Sunday for poetry lovers at Rabindra Mandap here as actress Shabana Azmi and lyricist Javed Akhtar presented a rendition of Kaifi Azmi's wife Shaukat Azmi's memoir, Kaifi aur Main.

The 120-minute audio play was poetic with shades of romance, humour, grief, struggle and progressive messages thrown in. The plot was interwoven with ghazals complimented by violins and tabla.

Kaifi aur Main presented a coy real-life romance between revolutionary Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi and his wife Shaukat, set amidst the political backdrop before and after 1947.

From the revolutionary to the romantic, the play, written by Akhtar and directed by Ramesh Talwar, showed Shaukat's memoirs that delve into the various characteristics of Kaifi.

What made the performance livelier is the fact that Shabana is the daughter of Kaifi and Shaukat. She and her husband Akhtar read out the parts of the poet and his wife.

The play allowed us a peek into the 55-year-long romantic life of Kaifi and Shaukat right from the time they first met. The play also conveyed social ideas.

Singer Jaswinder Singh presented some of Kaifi's eternal creations and left the audience mesmerised. While Akhtar's recitation enthralled the crowd, Shabana's voice modulation and dramatisation left them speechless.

Kaifi's poems have often found their place in Bollywood movies as lyrics including that of songs such as Tum jo mil gaye ho (Hanste Zakhm), Ab tumhare hawale vatan saathiyo (Haqeeqat), Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam (Kagaz ke phool), Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho (Arth). Young singers presented these songs and the audience could not stop applauding.

The event was organised by the Zen Foundation and only a selected few were allowed to witness the show. Later, the Zen Foundation founder Syed Zishan Ali presented a book on the state's cultural heritage to Akhtar and another book on Buddhism to Shabana.