Aurora Magazine

Promoting excellence in advertising

Urdu Ka Janaza Hai

Published 11 Jun, 2021 04:36pm
Sami Qahar
Will Urdu survive the next 25 years?

Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known as Gulzar and one of the most iconic figures in Indian poetry and film music, loves Urdu. To the extent that in one of his most famous songs Chhaiyya Chhaiyya, he praises the beloved with the iconic line “Ho Jis Ki Zubaan Urdu Ki Tarah”.

He is not the only one to do so. The legendary dialogues and songs in Indian films would not be what they are today without Urdu. India still holds the Jashn-e-Rekhta event to commemorate Urdu every year. I wonder how many people reading this article know what rekhta means. For those who don’t, it is another name for Urdu.

I probably come from the last generation to have grown up with Urdu literature occupying a large part of my life. We, the eighties kids, had Ibn-e-Safi and Ishtiaq Ahmed to read and we graduated to Ashfaq Ahmed, Manto, Shafiq-ur-Rehman and Mustansar Hussain Tarar as we grew up. Our poetry was not a random guy turning incoherent sentences into words and calling it poetry. There was no Larro Mujhay or ‘Aisay Jeenay Mein’ because it was incorrect Urdu. Lyrics and poetry were ruled by Radeef, Qaafiya, Zameen and Beher. As I type these lines, I have a lump in my throat.

Let’s put the emotions and nostalgia aside and come to the problem at hand. Last month, Aurora’s website published an article called ‘Why is Urdu Difficult For Us’, which opened unhealed wounds. That piece was written by young creative manager and was more of an admission of guilt – and I felt his pain and conundrum.

The decline, if not demise of Urdu, particularly in advertising, can be attributed to several factors.

The Rise of WhatsApp and Roman Script

In 2004 when I started my career in advertising, the first language of communication for brands was Urdu. The communication was written and read in Urdu. Fast forward 15 year and a glance at the billboards on the streets and digital ads online, quickly show that Urdu is not written in Urdu script anymore. It's all Roman, with everyone using their own spelling version to communicate. What is wrong with it, you may ask? It is a modern adaptation of a language and in keeping with trends. There is nothing wrong with it, except that it will kill the Urdu language sooner than later. Script, called Rasm-ul-Khat (رسمُ الخط ) is the basic difference between a ‘zabaan’ (language) and a ‘boli’ (lingo). A zabaan has its own rasm-ul-khat (script) and without a script a language cannot exist. What we have in advertising now, is Urdu spoken and written in English.

The biggest reason for this shift is the rise of apps, such as WhatsApp, where users type Urdu using English script and understand it the same way. It's so common that advertisers consider it okay to only use one language. I would be fine with it if this was a global problem. It is not. In Turkey, ads are written in Turkish. In China the script is Mandarin. Greece, Spain, France… you name it. Go to the Middle East and see how many ads have Arabic written in English script. They all advertise in their own script. In Pakistan, you will see less than five percent digital ads using Urdu script. Instead, you see is five different spellings of ‘Hai ہے’ from Hey, Hai, Hay, Hae etc. Today’s copywriters do not understand the difference between writing ‘Nahin نہیں’ and ‘Nahi نہی’ as the two spellings are commonly used. In Urdu, ‘Nahin’ means No, whereas ‘Nahi’ used without an extra ‘noon ghunna’ (ں) sound, means denial or rejection. This is a huge difference and only one example of the problem at hand. ‘Kya’ and ‘Kiya’ have very different meanings. Kya is ‘What’ and Kiya is ‘Did’. Now open your ads and billboards photos and see how many times the two spellings have been used to say ‘What’.

Death of the Urdu Copywriter

The second and even bigger problem is that people do not even think Urdu is important or a skill worth having. In 2004, ad agencies had an Urdu copywriter who was an expert in his field and English copywriters were junior resources and usually part of the copy teams headed by an Urdu expert. More often than not, copy was written in Urdu and translated into English. Today, ad agencies have copywriters; there are no Urdu or English copywriters – just copywriters. Pitch decks are made in English, concepts are written and thought in English and if needed, translated into Urdu using English script. How then can one expect Urdu to exist or flourish in advertising?

The most unfortunate aspect of all this is that Urdu is no more a specialty. Anyone can write in Urdu. Any English copywriter can write Urdu taglines or dialogues (if someone is smart enough to create a concept where dialogue is required). Otherwise, a visual montage with heavy Urdu words without coherent sentences can always do wonders. Urdu jingles are written by English speaking copywriters. The end result is ‘Baby shor machay ga shor se zyda, party kar ley more se zyada’ – and this unfortunately is one of the better examples - at least it rhymes.

Decline in Reading Habit

Advertisers are not to blame for everything. Unfortunately, and that is the sad reality, there is a decline in reading all over the world. Books have been replaced by screens and screen-time is divided between social media, content, games and music. Reading is at the bottom of the pecking order. Forget anyone else, I used to be a one-book-a-week guy and now I am a one-book-every-six-months guy. If screens are going to replace books, Urdu will suffer way more than English because Urdu reading is limited to Pakistan.

Ranting aside, do I have a solution? I don’t want to be a pessimist, but the truth is advertisers will not switch to Urdu. Their rationale will be that Urdu is not the first language of the majority anymore; at least in terms of reading, if not speaking. As flawed as this argument may appear, there some merit for this rationale, particularly among the younger generation. The only way any of this can change is if the entire advertising industry decides to switch to Urdu as the first medium of communication. Not Urdu written in English script, but Urdu the language. They will have to bring back Urdu copywriters and give jingles to poets not English medium graduates. I am not being condescending towards a part of the fraternity, it is unfair to expect from them something that they have not studied or experienced.

None of this is going to happen. There is a strong possibility that 25 years from now, there will only be a handful of people who will know how to write Urdu. It will be a sad time to live in, but it’s okay. We will survive. We have survived Corona, haven’t we?

Sami Qahar is a marketer turned film producer. sami.qahar@gmail.com

History of Urdu language urdu ads pakistan urdu usage in ads decline of urdu language urdu ads urdu language
Related Stories

Comments (50) Closed



ali Jun 11, 2021 06:38pm
Excellent article. The death of Urdu is also due to many other reasons. Post colonial attitudes towards Urdu and English. We have a two tier world where Urdu is the underdog and English equates progress. Pakistan itself has a two medium education system. Urdu having a difficult script when typed in apps and computers. Perhaps writing Urdu in the Roman script must be standardized so that differences in Nhain and nahi do not happen. 2nd generation immigrants are very familiar with desi cuisine and reject the desi language. I have seen countless families where parents and children speak in English because the children have difficulty with their native language. The death of Urdu is clearly ahead of us.
Bilal Rana Jun 11, 2021 06:48pm
Brilliant piece! Well done for raising alrams on this sad demise of our cultural heritage.
bushra Jun 11, 2021 09:28pm
my heart cries to save urdu
bushra Jun 11, 2021 09:29pm
my heart cries to save urdu we can do something together
Punjabi Jun 11, 2021 09:45pm
Urdu eradicated all regional languages. A shame how Urdu was given preferential treatment and our regional languages are now facing an existential crisis.
AFriend Jun 11, 2021 09:46pm
As long as there are Agra and Aligarh and Lucknow, Urdu will remain in existence. It is Hindustani that has taken a beating with the separation of Pakistan.
Sundus Anbreen Jun 11, 2021 10:06pm
I agree with you.Unfortunately we have this situation. Now our whole system is being converted to English. We can do nothing but just seeing all this situation. Only one thing we can do is to change ourselves and create awareness among people as you are creating. I salute you sir.
Tahir Naseer Qureshi Jun 11, 2021 10:43pm
Very nicely put. Urdu is indeed going towards a new direction if not dying. As far as script is concerned we might have new script similar to the Turkish language after 25 years. However it is more worrying that Urdu which is beautiful treasure might be lost. It is hard to find any other language which is so poetic and expressive as Urdu.
Zak Jun 11, 2021 11:21pm
I think it has slipped his mind, Urdu is Pakistan's national language and will last till the end of time. It will have a resurgence in Kashmir, IOK and all over Indian union.
Aamir Naeem Jun 11, 2021 11:41pm
Its alarming but for me during Covid 19 i started reading urdu magazines and have started narrating stories in urdu even by showing urdu alphabet to my children even have increased urdu literature. But dont worry it wont die soon, madaris teach subjects in urdu mode of language ulama use to write is urdu and there are millions of their followers who read urdu to understand them and to learn from them. Please note big ulama literature is available in urdu people around the world travel to Pakistan to learn islam in urdu. I witnessed Ugandan muslim speak in clear urdu as he had studied in Pakistan madaris same is the case for Indonesia and Malaysian students coming to Pakistan to gain religious knowledge.
Akkaraju Sailesh Chandra Jun 11, 2021 11:53pm
Urdu is one of the more beautiful languages in the world. It would be sad if poems and songs in original Urdu are lost. So I certainly hope that the interest in Urdu picks up. Also, do understand that knowing one RTL ( Right to Left) and one LTR ( Left to Right) has obvious benefits, both at a personal psychological level and at a business practical level ( designing a GUI for example).
Ali Jun 12, 2021 12:33am
FYI, Turkey switched from Arabic script to Roman for the Turkish language. It did not lead to the decline of the language and is the only script used today.
Madaiyan Jun 12, 2021 02:43am
We have to use God's chosen and preferred language! It is a will of God!
Ahmed Jun 12, 2021 04:47am
Urdu is a useless language and foreign to pakistan anyways. Let us focus on promoting English language
Uday Jun 12, 2021 05:03am
Urdu is probably the only language created artificially. It’s not a natural language. It was created to make conversation easier for the rulers ( Mughals) as they needed some thing to conversation with the local population, but on their own terms. So the local language - Hindi was mixed with Persian/ Arabic words and thus Urdu was formed. It gave Muslims a one level up feeling than the local Hindu population as there were few words no one could easily understand, as it had Persian or Arabic origin. Such as English — the more (complicated) words you know the better it was. Also it suited the need of Muslims at that time who could also say they have their own language and thus were different than the locals. Whereas on other countries local population was adapted irrespective of religion but India was different as it already had so many languages, so it was easier to introduce one more. As a native Hindi speaker I can easily relate to complex words of my language and can also trace its origin .. break it for better understanding but for a native Urdu speaker it would not be that easy to find source of origin in a foreign language and thus won’t be easy to easily understand. So there preferred language would become either Punjabi or Sindhi etc. where it is easier to relate to every single word and feel proud about it.
Reader Jun 12, 2021 05:17am
Excellent article, we need to have Urdu back in our country
Aziza Jun 12, 2021 07:45am
I have been living in USA for the past almost 30 years. I moved away from Pakistan when we used to say “mein nay upna faisla ker liya hay”. I feel like crying when I hear “mein nay mera faisla bana liya hay”. I truly feel like as Pakistani diaspora, it is our responsibility to preserve Urdu language in its true form. I hope and pray that we are able to do that because destruction of Urdu language will be a great loss for sub continent literature.
Omar Jun 12, 2021 07:47am
Appreciate the article. I am a native Sindhi speaker and its painful to see the demise our languages and associated wisdom with it. Whtsapp has definitely accelerated the downfall but the trend was in place. Its has to do with the low self respect for ourselves which comes from ignorance and and whole hearted embrace of popular culture that can be blamed to the colonial hangover that we are still living through.
Toni Jun 12, 2021 08:31am
This is a sad reality as Urdu is such is a fine soft language, when written in Roman letters, the phonics of English letters are important but not the English pronunciations. So in URDU it would be Tonee NOT Toni and certainly NOT Toknee. As an expat its very enjoyable to listen and try and write Urdu in Roman letters or in Urdu itself when keyboard available, but then there is the zair and zabur emphasis. I despise the use of English words when Urdu words are available in conversations in TV channels and in the DAWN newspaper et.al.
tawajo Jun 12, 2021 09:00am
Pakistan will not survive in the next 25 years ...that is for sure. It will implode from within.
mahesh passa Jun 12, 2021 09:33am
no matter what,urdu will live forever inshalla! it has a unique place especially because of shaeri wich is unmached.
SHAHID Iqbal Jun 12, 2021 10:17am
Absolutely brilliant and stunning article... Now I am a father of a 2 year baby and I am confused how I would teach urdu to my son in this era of indifference towards urdu
Muhammad ali Jun 12, 2021 11:24am
"...Their rationale will be that Urdu is not the first language of the majority anymore; at least in terms of reading, if not speaking..." lol, Urdu is not even the majority language in speaking even..According to the latest census, Urdu is the mother tongue of only 7% of the people in Pakistan. In my province(K.P), no one speaks Urdu to one another unless the other person is from some other province.Its looked down upon by the people.Urdu in K.P & Balochistan at least is only alive as a consequence of being the forced "National language" of the state. You have given the examples of Turkish,Arabic,Chinese,Spanish,French etc. The reality is that in these countries, these languages are the native languages of an overwhelming majority of the population while Urdu in Pakistan is not even the native language of 1 in 10 persons. It was relevant until the state had monopoly on education & it almost forced Urdu on everyone but things have changed.The world has opened up & majority of the people don't see the utility of Urdu anymore.For most of the people, their native language is what they identify with most & for connecting with the outside world & to access modern knowledge, they learn English. These two languages are enough for us & Urdu will become irrelevant in the decades to come which is fine.Its only natural...
Bupi Jun 12, 2021 11:39am
The tree, though cut down, sprouts agin. The moon though waning, will wax again. Reflecting thus, the good people never lament when in distress.
Meisam Reza Jun 12, 2021 01:07pm
I think you are going too much pessimistic. I read Urdu everyday in its own script; Ghalib, Meer, Iqbal, Prem Chand, Ismat Chughtai, Pitras, etc.,and I know many other people who do the same. It's an indispensable part of our lives. In addition, I'm not an eighties kid. I was born in the first decade of the 21st century. And I am an Indian.
Shazia Jun 12, 2021 02:26pm
I used to read urdu books . Still look for them but libraries are are rare seen in Islamabad. Can't afford to buy every single book in Urdu. Read many novels and agsanas on internet but my eyes hurt. Alhumdulillah, my friends borrow from my collection. This is the least I can do. To make public library is in my plans, in Shaa Allah.
Muhammad Fazal Ahmad Jun 12, 2021 03:24pm
Very heartfelt yet an objective piece. In addition to what you have written I'd perception of a language as well. Pecking order is headed by westernised youth who never saw the relevance of Urdu and their Grammar schools agreed. We have forgotten how important is the connection of a culture with language and ultimately depth in identity. Sad but true.
M. Emad Jun 12, 2021 03:38pm
After 1971, Urdu language not survive in Bangladesh. Before 1947, Urdu was widely understood in (British) Eastern-Bengal. The young generations of old Urdu-speaking families now become Bengali speakers.
Tariq Jun 12, 2021 04:25pm
You failed to note that Turkish has benefited hugely from Ataturk's language reforms - the shift from Farsi script to Roman with its capacity for movable type and easy digitization. The script is official and standardized. Turkish did not wither away because the script changed. Any language is more than its script. More importantly languages die when they fail to produce new ideas and knowledge. All new knowledge is coming to us from abroad in English and that is going to have unavoidable consequences.
Dasti Jun 12, 2021 07:41pm
Mujhey urdu zaban se pyar he..
Khaula Umar Jun 12, 2021 10:44pm
I wish more people care about this and I wish I would have commented "???? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?????"
Wasif Jun 12, 2021 10:59pm
Perhaps Sami here, is making a mistake of reflecting his own experiences (personal + Industry practice) onto people at large and taking that as a mundane reality. Though his love for Urdu is admirable and evident in his writing. Maybe the things he said could be true for the Urdu literary culture and traditions. And we need to do something about that. But Urdu language as a whole is far from being done and dusted. The national language of any country doesn't dissipate as quickly as one would fear. Apart from literary (written) it also has uses in governance, everyday speak, and cultural and national Identity. These alone would not let anything else replace Urdu from it's mantle. And in the end Sami himself points towards the problem, "...unfair to expect from them something that they have not studied or experienced.". Major advertising firms have in leadership roles people who are educated abroad or in English mediums locally, or trained in west-centric environments. Hence fail to relate, and respond to local languages among other things.
Hina Khwaja Bayat Jun 13, 2021 12:41am
This just broke my heart.... ???? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????????
Nadeem Jun 13, 2021 04:55am
Very heart touching scholarly article. You described about written way of language but the pronunciation of lamented language is much shocking. The people who pronounce on media don't know how to pronounce correctly.
Taz Jun 13, 2021 07:05am
I moved of the country about 30 years ago, But I am still used to reading Urdu in Urdu script and English in roman script, but whenever i visit my old country, I have difficult time to read urdu in Roman script on signs, internet etc. May God bless Urdu in its own beautiful writting.
Truth teller Jun 13, 2021 08:25am
Then why you people teach your children in foreign colleges? First, you teach your children to live out of the country then beat the drums of the decline of language.
Ghanty Jun 13, 2021 09:34am
Why does Pakistan have a foreign language as its national language instead of the local languages like Punjabi, Balochi or Pushtu?
IP Jun 13, 2021 10:14am
The exact same thing is happening with Hindi in India. It's strange how easily people can decide to forgo their legacy. Hopefully, better sense will prevail. Love from India.
Funtime Jun 13, 2021 11:23am
I hope it happens sooner than 25 years as it's a burden on children for no benefit for them and none of the provinces had it as mother tongue so no need to keep lingering with it anymore.
Biju Jun 13, 2021 11:28am
It's a shame. Screens replacing books is a global phenomenon. I too contribute to it's spread.
BBodd Jun 13, 2021 01:58pm
English is more like a communication protocol: not even the educated English know its depth so what we have today is a very small range of vocabulary used throughout the English world. It is horrifying to see language butchered like English is today. Urdu on the other hand has great depth and richness, but even Educated Pakistanis do not know its depth. Urdu has tremendous scope for expression and feelings and description. To lose such richness really does rob a people if the ability to express the inner emotions and conflicts we experience. By switching to English we are taking a reductive step. The writer should point to the middle class sector for being the key culprit. We should all try to read at least one Urdu book a year to start our fight back.
Anonymous Jun 13, 2021 02:00pm
Another problem I notice is also lack of good books to read in Urdu. Are there any books to read in Urdu about popular science? Are there any global history books to read in Urdu? Unfortunately, even translations of foreign language books are not available in Urdu. Even if you find one, they use many English words instead of Urdu.
Adnan Qamar Jun 13, 2021 04:27pm
Urdu is suffering what other native languages suffered in the 1980s, 1990s. Starting from the 1980s, people in Lahore and other major cities of Punjab decided that Punjabi was a crude language and needed to be replaced with Urdu. Now, they think Urdu is useless and needs to be replaced by English.
Sajid Haider Jun 13, 2021 10:43pm
Thank you for highlighting this. Yes, the urdu script is dying way too fast unfortunately :(
fastrack Jun 14, 2021 02:14am
We don’t need Urdu. Urdu needs me.
Humza Jun 14, 2021 06:30am
urdu has limited utility as a language. It is not even one of the native languages of Pakistan. The sooner we adopt universal English, the sooner the nation will develop. It is the main advantage that Pakistanis have in the global work force and we need to accept this fast and start teaching in English for all children from an early age.
Ahmar Qureshi Jun 14, 2021 10:01am
BOHAT ACHA LIKHA AAP NE SAMI JEE.. AAJ KAL HUM SIRF ZAMANAY KO APNA AAP OONCHA DIKHANAY KAY LIYE BIL'A WAJAH ANGREZI KA ISTEMAAL KARTAY HAIN (MAI BHI USSI KA HISSA HOON) URDU BOLNAY WALAY KA MAZAQ URA'TAY HAIN. AHL-E-ZUBAN "REKHTA / URDU" KO KABHI KHATAM HONAY NAHIN DEIN GEY. AATAY MEIN NAMAK KAY BRABAR HI SAHI - URDU RAHAY GI TA' AABAAD! <3
Ahmar Qureshi Jun 14, 2021 10:02am
- AUR AFSOS ISS BAAT KA KEH AAP KAY ISS MAZMOON PER COMMENTS KARNAY WALA SIRF AIK HI QAARI AAYA HAI...
Suhaib ur Rehman Jun 15, 2021 01:18am
Urdu is a foreign language in present day Pakistan. I was born and raised in Punjab and i can tell you the how disconnected we felt with the older generations who conversed in Punjabi, and with the general population. Urdu came at the cost of Punjabi. I really want to see the back of this language. I now, live in US and to beside English, French, Punjabi is the language I want my children to speak. Sorry Urdu,
Ali Jun 15, 2021 06:22pm
Sami, the fact is two-tier education system hasn't helped us either where Urdu as a subject is a second language optional. There is also a decline in students wanting to learn the subject mainly due to how courses are structured. From my own experience, I hated to do tashreeh's of what the shaair said.. it would have been a lot more interesting if we were asked to read classical novels to flare interest.