Imagine growing up with poets like Rahat Indori and Waseem Barelvi dropping by your home.

For Hina Rizvi, that was part of growing up in Lucknow. But her own poetry stayed hidden in private diaries for years.

In this episode of Rekhta Room, Hina joins Faisal Fehmi to talk about finding the confidence to step onto the mushaira stage, the support that changed her journey, women finding space in poetry, and how social media is reshaping modern adab.

Plus, Hina shares the influences behind her writing and closes the episode with a special ghazal recitation.

From private pages to a public voice. This is Hina Rizvi’s story.

Can AI help poets write better, or is it taking the soul out of poetry?

In Episode 4 of Rekhta Room, young poet and IT professional Yasir Khan Inam joins Faisal Fehmi to discuss his journey from Bulandshahr to Delhi, the influence of Sahir Ludhianvi, and why behr remains central to Urdu poetry.

He also shares his perspective on ChatGPT, social media reels, self-editing and the future of shayari. The episode ends with a rapid-fire round and a special ghazal recitation, including “Yeh Aansu Toh Tumhare Baad Aaye.”

Azhar Nawaz never formally learnt the meter of poetry. He discovered its rhythm by singing ghazals as a boy.

In Episode 3 of Rekhta Room Season 1, the young poet joins Faisal Fehmi to revisit his journey from Anjan Shaheed, a village in Azamgarh, to studying English Literature at Jamia Millia Islamia and completing his PhD at Aligarh Muslim University.

Growing up in a home filled with Urdu and poetry, Azhar initially wanted to become a singer. Encouraged by his father to recite ghazals in tarannum, he developed a natural understanding of behar long before writing his own couplets.

Azhar also opens up about his creative process. He does not wait for inspiration to strike. Instead, he observes paradoxes in everyday life, notes them down, and patiently shapes them into poetry.

The conversation moves through his love for sketching, painting, music, mystery thrillers, and Korean and Japanese cinema. It concludes with a lively rapid-fire round on legendary poets and a memorable recitation featuring his celebrated couplet on Qissa-e-Taakhir, the story of delay.

Areeb Usmani was building a career as a professional fast bowler when a serious ligament injury brought everything to an abrupt end. In the silence that followed, he found poetry.

In this episode of Rekhta Room, Areeb joins Faisal Fehmi to talk about growing up in Mau and Azamgarh, the literary influences within his family, and the years he spent playing cricket in Lucknow and Mumbai.

He recalls moving to Aligarh, discovering a community of writers at AMU, and gradually finding his own poetic voice.

He also shares the amusing story of mistaking Jaun Elia for John Donne, reflects on reading more than 80 novels during lockdown, and speaks candidly about the effect of social media on contemporary poetry.

The conversation moves through cricket, loss, prose, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the friendships that shaped him, before concluding with a moving recitation of his poetry.

Rekhta Room, Season 1, Episode 2. Featuring Areeb Usmani.
Presented by Rekhta Foundation.

Does heartbreak really make a poet? For Varun Anand, poetry arrived much earlier.

In the first episode of Rekhta Room, hosted by Faisal Fehmi, Varun Anand traces his journey from Yamunanagar and Ludhiana to the world of Urdu poetry.

As the eldest son of a family facing financial hardship, he left school early and began working at a young age.

It was while listening to Jagjit Singh on the radio that he discovered the poets behind the ghazals, including Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli and Qateel Shifai, and began writing himself.

Varun speaks candidly about stepping away from poetry after his mother’s death, the person who brought him back, and the discipline behind writing a technically sound ghazal. He explains the importance of behr, why aamad may offer only the first line, and how the rest must be shaped through labour and craft.

From writing amid the roar of garment factory machines to reflecting on social media, literary gatherings and his creative process, this is an honest conversation about language, loss and perseverance.

The episode closes with Varun Anand reciting his celebrated ghazal, “Lahu Lagta Hai.”

Rekhta Room is presented by Rekhta Foundation, the world’s largest platform for Urdu language and literature.

Experience the Dubai Grand Mushaira 2024 from Jashn-e-Rekhta, featuring Javed Akhtar, Zehra Nigah, Tehzeeb Hafi, Shakeel Azmi, Abbas Tabish, Farhat Ehsas, Anwar Shaoor, Khalid Irfan, Asim Wasti, Manish Shukla and more.

Presided over by the legendary Zehra Nigah and hosted by Ambreen Haseeb Amber, this special mehfil brings together some of the most celebrated voices of Urdu poetry.

From ghazals on love, longing and relationships to nazms on society, cinema, memory, mothers, loneliness and satire, each poet brings a distinct mood to the stage.

Listen to Tehzeeb Hafi’s contemporary shayari, Javed Akhtar’s reflections on time and silence, Shakeel Azmi’s moving tribute to unsung film workers, Abbas Tabish’s unforgettable poetry on mothers, and Zehra Nigah’s iconic Jungle Ka Kanoon.

A must-listen for lovers of Urdu shayari, ghazal, mushaira, Rekhta, Jashn-e-Rekhta and timeless poetry.

Javed Akhtar and Pervaiz Alam come together at Jashn-e-Rekhta for a sharp, necessary conversation on the Urdu script debate, Rasm-ul-Khat, and the relationship between Hindi and Urdu.

Javed Akhtar begins with a clear argument. There is no problem with the Urdu script. The real confusion lies in mixing up script with language. Through examples from Punjabi, English, French and German, he explains how grammar, not script, defines a language.

He also challenges the idea that Urdu is foreign or belongs to one religion, while reflecting on Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam, everyday Hindustani vocabulary, Bollywood’s shrinking language, and the class snobbery around speaking one’s own language well.

The conversation also looks at Nastaliq, Devanagari and Roman scripts, the role of Rekhta in digital preservation, and the danger of losing access to literary heritage. The session closes with Javed Akhtar reciting his nazm “Zindagi.”

In this rare and intimate episode of Rekhta Rubaru, legendary Urdu poet Munawwar Rana sits down with Moid Rasheedi for a deeply personal conversation about identity, Partition, poetry, rebellion and the memories that shaped his voice.

Rana reflects on being Munawwar Ali before fame, his childhood as the son of a truck driver, and his father’s decision to stay in India after 1947 to protect the 500-year-old graves of their ancestors.

He shares moving stories of failure, labour, loss and dignity, including the day his father sent him to work after he failed 6th grade.

The conversation also explores his years in Kolkata during the Naxalite era, his rebellious phase, his return to family responsibilities, and the emotional force behind his most defining literary contribution. Bringing Maa to the centre of the Urdu ghazal.

A powerful episode on memory, language, belonging and the poet who changed the emotional vocabulary of Urdu poetry.