Learning Urdu has opened up a whole new world for me: Amruta Subhash – bollywood

A while ago, Amruta Subhash enrolled for a seven day online Urdu class to make productive use of the lockdown. Talking about it, she shares, “I came to know that Om Bhutkar, a Marathi actor and my friend, has started an online Urdu learning course. He regularly holds Sukhan, a programme on Urdu shayaari. I enrolled myself for the course and got the opportunity to read some beautiful shayaaris. I’ve learnt so many new words in Urdu.”

She believes that the experience is helping her appreciate art more than ever. “Earlier when I used to listen to ghazals, I would concentrate only on the music but now I focus on the lyrics equally. The course has opened up a whole new world for me,” she says.

Subhash says that she attributes her love for the language to Gulzar who she worked with in the television show, Tehreer… Munshi Premchand Ki. She nostalgically says, “He had adapted Premchand’s novel, Nirmala, for Doordarshan and directed me in the show. He had told me back then that he wanted to translate one of Kusumagraj’s (late poet) works from Marathi to Urdu. Together we started working on it and those were the most magical days of my life.”

She adds, “Gulzar saab, at that time, had told me to learn Urdu. I was too busy then and I never got the chance. He used to speak to me in Urdu sometimes and I would keep asking him the meaning of the words.”

 

The Gully Boy (2018) actor recently took to social media to read a chapter from her book Ek Ulat Ek Sulat. She says that though she’s planning to translate it into English, she’s overwhelmed by an “atmosphere of worry and uncertainty”. She says, “When I read a chapter from my book, my non-Marathi audience requested me to translate the book. I’ve a lot of free time now and I want to write but I’m not being able to. One needs peace while writing. I end up writing more when I’m busy.”