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This book is in some senses a paradox. It has been put together by two brothers based in the US who currently live an academic life that would seem to have very little to do with the poetry in the book. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that both Ali Husain and Raza hail from Hyderabad where there would be a different Urdu couplet awaiting them every occasion of the day. As for example the one that their father whispered into their ears to wake them in time for school: Arise, and join the moving caravans /That have left several destinations in their wake...

Out of those dim days of couplets came an intent to revive the memory of Urdu progressive poetry, which appears to have suffered a kind of amnesia amongst scholars. Or lingered on in Bollywood hits. The book celebrates the verse of Josh Malihabadi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Israr-ul Haq Majaz, Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Makhdoom Mohiuddin and Ali Sardar Jafri. Javed Akhtar is present as their contemporary torchbearer.

In 1934, the movement began with a manifesto in the Nanking Hotel in London, and it ended 32 years later, in 1966, when Krishen Chander, Secretary of the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA), declared on the 30th anniversary of the movement, "We had no funds, no files, no office, no dictaphone. And yet, with nothing in hand but a pencil, we wrote the most glorious chapter in the cultural renaissance of our people."

During those three decades the poets associated with the movement contributed to the life and times of the sub continent in many different ways, linking its political activities to whatever else was happening in the rest of the world and finding anthems for each occasion. In March 1955, when Faiz Ahmed Faiz was imprisoned in Rawalpindi’s Montgomery Jail for ‘seditious activities’, he consoled himself with thoughts of the African movement for liberation, I am you, and my gait is your lion-walk / Come, Africa / Come with a lion-walk / Come, Africa. Makhdoom Mohiudeen protested against Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa in 1941, launched against the Soviet Union by declaring, This is a war for freedom / The whole world is ours / The East and the West, the North and the South / … Under the banner of freedom. And in 1992, much after the movement had officially ended, Kaifi Azmi lashed out at the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Ram began his resigned journey yet again, / The climate of my capital has been vitiated / On the 6th of December, I was exiled yet again.

While the book does deal with the politics, romance and international outlook of the PWA, what it seems to focus on is its links with the Hindi film industry. Urdu poets belonging to the PWA were an integral part of Bollywood from the 1940s, which explains why a subtle undercurrent of progressive ideology can be found in the films of the times. An undercurrent that still exists though somewhat diluted by today’s superficialities. There are Sahir’s lyrics for Dhool ki Phool that boldly criticize religious divides.

Tu Hindu baega na, Musalaman banega/Insaan ki aulad hai, insaan banega.
(You will neither become a Hindu or a Muslim /You are a child of humans, you will be a human being).

According to Ali Husain and his brother, Sahir Ludhianvi is the best example of their argument for the links between film and politics. However Majrooh and Javed Akhtar continued the trend in their film lyrics, unlike the Hindu poets who preferred to stay away from the film medium – which is why the authors take up Akhtar's "Tarkash" for a detailed critique.

Progressive poetry finally lost a great deal of impetus – according to the Mir brothers its original spirit of resistance can only be seen in the poems of the Urdu feminist writers of Pakistan, writers of the caliber of Riyaz, Kishwar Naheed, Parvin Shakir and others. Will you not see the Full moon? When we read her merciless assault We are grinding humans to produce dwarves / O Sheik, praise our achievements! Alms! O Brother! / I swear by your hallowed petrodollar, writes Fehmida Riyaz

The blood red cover which feature the lines of Faiz Ahmad Faiz aptly captures the spirit of the movement: So what if my pen has been snatched away from me / I have dipped my fingers in the blood of my heart /So what if my mouth has been sealed; I have turned /Every link of my chain into a speaking tongue.For a poem that talks of heart’s blood, a cover to match.

The authors of Anthems of Resistance, very confidently state that their approach is neither critical nor uninvolved. What they are attempting to do is celebrate the spirit of resistance epitomized in this kind of Urdu poetry. And in this they have certainly been successful.

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