Shabana Azmi, who sang all the songs of Anjuman, expresses the highest regard for Shahryar's poetic aptitudes.
"He was the best ghazal poet in present times," she says. "The words that he wrote in films were only a small part of his poetic oeuvre. He is rightly held in high regard for his poetry. I reluctantly sang in Anjuman but I got to sing some really evocative poetry. Kitna lihaaz tha unke lehze main (there was so much grace in his attitude). I was privileged to have sung these lines in Anjuman with Bhupinder."
Muzaffar Ali, whose cinema was a passionate platform for Shahrayar's poetry, says he has lost his voice. "He was a part of my creative journey more than I was a part of his. Though I may have lost my voice, he will live on in my work and his work will live on in me."
Shahryar, who wrote under the pen name Akhlaq Mohammed Khan, passed away on February 13 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, after suffering from a prolonged illness. He was 76.
