Main Tenu Phir Milaangi: A Lifelong Love Between Amrita and Imroz

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Two men, two kinds of love, one unforgettable life

We all know of Amrita Pritam’s tumultuous but unrequited love for Sahir Ludhianvi. Far fewer people, however, know of her long and deeply moving relationship with Imroz, with whom she spent the last forty years of her life. Their only commitment was an unspoken, unsaid and unconditional love for each other.

“She lives her life like a flame — a dance of purposeful chaos. A weak man will try to dim her luminescence, but her soul mate will take pleasure in fanning the blaze.”

That soul mate in Amrita’s life was Imroz.

Amrita meant the world to Imroz. His acceptance of her was complete. When they met, Amrita was already married, a mother of two, and passionately in love with Sahir Ludhianvi. Imroz never insisted on marriage with Amrita, knowing that her earlier experience had been unhappy. Her children became “ours” for him.

Imroz loved her intensely. According to him, “A person in love never asks why. A lover accepts everything about the beloved unconditionally.” He devoted his entire life to her and was content to live quietly beside her while Amrita’s literary career blossomed, winning several awards and accolades. His only paradigm of life was simply to be by her side forever.

Imroz was fully aware of her deep love for Sahir. Yet he never objected to any of her feelings. For many years after the Partition, Amrita worked at All India Radio in Delhi. Every day Imroz would drop her off and pick her up from her workplace. Sitting pillion behind him, Amrita would often scribble something on his back.

One day, when Imroz tried to decipher her scribbles, he realized she had been tracing Sahir’s name on his back.

Yet his love for Amrita was so complete that even this did not trouble him. As he once said, laughing:

“The feeling was hers, and my back was hers too. How can I feel bad? Sahir is a part of me too. His name has been inscribed on my back.”

They never encroached on each other’s space. Amrita would begin writing at any hour — even in the middle of the night — and Imroz would quietly place a cup of tea beside her.

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