In 2019, Aamir Aziz’s song ‘Achhe Din Blues’, which riffed on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 election slogan, was taken down by YouTube.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini
Aamir Aziz says he doesn’t want to die in penury like fellow writer Premchand. “Poverty refuses to leave me,” says the 36-year-old actor and poet. “I don’t understand why.”Aziz, whose blistering protest poems can make you weep or fill you with rage/ despair — Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters was inspired to recite a translation of ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’ (‘Everything Will be Remembered’) in 2020 — says he’s tried everything to earn a living in Mumbai, from acting to songwriting. “I’m not idealistic like the older poets. I’ve even performed in pubs and done whatever it takes,” he says. But money eludes him. The impact of his published work outweighs its quantity (about half a dozen songs). YouTube removed his 2019 hit ‘Achhe Din Blues’ — which riffed on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan during the 2014 election — for violating its terms of service. His latest, ‘Dopeher Blues’, is a hat tip to that hit.“It’s the sequel to my very first song which sang of morning and evening, but there was no afternoon story,” says Aziz. He writes continuously in Roman Hindi on his phone. “There are a few fine days when I sit at a table and write in Urdu with a pen on paper,” he adds sheepishly.
