The re-verse of love: Urdu poetry gets a 2024 update

Urdu poetry, fuelled by love and longing, fired up by politics, amplified by Instagram and reimagined by indie bands, is finding new fans

What’s your love language? For young people in India today, it’s literally a language: Urdu. It’s been around for at least 800 years; the 2011 census shows that India has well over 67 million Urdu speakers. “But that audience has surged with the rise of Instagram poetry in the last decade,” says Aamir Aziz, 33, a poet, musician, composer and actor in Mumbai.

India has over 67 million Urdu speakers. That audience has surged with the rise of Instagram poetry. (Azad Mohan Panwar)

Aamir Aziz says, “To keep the language alive, speak, read and write in it.”

SRK is mindful of his Urdu pronunciation, says Akshita Nagpal. “Listen to him saying ‘Ghalat’.”

Urdu is loosening up. Sameer Rahat says, “there are ghazals with words like telephone, bus, train and mobile.”