Explained: 'Hum Dekhenge', Imran Khan, Vivek Agnihotri's claim and the controversial song

The timeless Urdu poem “Hum Dekhenge” by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz has once again become a matter of debate on social media - this time in an inter-country issue. A purported video clip showing Pakistani's former prime minister Imran Khan with the poem as background music has been met with a swift response from Indian film director Vivek Agnihotri, who claimed that the version of the song used in the Khan's video was lifted from his film 'The Kashmir Files'.

Fresh controversy: Conflicting assertions and rebuttals

Sharing a video of Imran Khan, Agnihotri tweeted, "Irony of Pakistan: See the power of Indic cinema. The official account of Imran Khan is using the official song of The Kashmir Files illegally in his official video on Instagram." The filmmaker also claimed that he had bought the rights of the song from Faiz House.

His tweet quickly went viral as netizens started taking sides. While some users pointed out the irony of Khan's PTI using the song from a movie that highlights Pakistan's sponsored Islamist terrorism in Kashmir, others claimed that the song doesn't belong to Agnihotri, but rather he had only bought the rights to use a particular version.

From Pen to Protest: The journey of ‘Hum Dekhenge’

Faiz wrote Hum Dekhenge in January 1979, while visiting the US. It was a time when Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wasdeposed in a coup by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. The poem was first published in Faiz's collection of poetry "Mere Dil Mere Musafir" in 1981.

In 1985, Iqbal Bano's performance of the song at a public gathering in Lahore was seen as a direct challenge to the military dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq, and resulted in her being banned from performing in public for several years.

It soon became very popular in Pakistan and across the world, and was set to music by various artists. The song has been performed by many notable singers, including Tina Sani, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

A poem battling controversy and censorship

The poem has become the anthem of protest in the sub-continent.

‘Hum Dekhenge’ became a topic of discussion after the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur formed a panel to probe incidents of students singing the poem during a protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in December 2020.

The song was also banned in Pakistan in 2019 during the Aurat March (Women's March), but it continued to be sung and performed by protesters and artists around the world as a symbol of resistance against oppression and injustice.

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Condemnation and acclaim

Critics argue that the poem is anti-Hindu, pointing to the lines "Sab takht giraye jayenge. Bas naam rahega Allah ka. Hum dekhenge" which has the literal translation “When thrones will vanish, only Allah’s name will remain.”

However, it has been defended by a number of prominent figures. According to Bollywood veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar, the poem, calling it anti-Hindu “absurd” and “funny”. He explained that Faiz had written the poem in protest against Pakistani dictator Zia ul Haq's “communal, regressive, and fundamentalist” rule.