Hussain Haidry

Hussain Haidry is a Dawoodi Bohra,[3] and was born in Indore where he attended Shri Satya Sai Vidhya Vihar school and went on to become a Chartered Accountant. He later obtained a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management Indore and worked as Head of Finance at a healthcare company in Kolkata. However, in December 2015 he left his job and moved to Mumbai to become a full-time lyricist and screenwriter.[4]

After leaving his job in Kolkata, Hussain started his career by performing at spoken word poetry forums in Mumbai such as Kommune, The Poetry Club, Prithvi Caferati and Words Tell Stories. However, he first gained prominence when his poem 'Hindustani Musalmaan' went viral on social media.[5] He was subsequently invited on the NDTV show The Buck Stops Here.[6] He also appeared in an interview with Ravish Kumar on the same channel's Prime Time for his poem.

Hussain's first film as a lyricist was Qarib Qarib Single, where he wrote two songs:[7] Tu Chale Toh[8] and Tanha Begum[9] composed by Music Director Rochak Kohli.

The first released film as a lyricist, however, was Gurgaon. He wrote two songs for the film - Tamasha[10] and Aiyyash Chore[11] solo and Udi[12] in collaboration with Varun Grover. He has also written the lyrics for the film Mukkabaaz[13] which premiered at the Mumbai Film Festival in 2017[14]

His first major film as a Lyricist was Mukkabaaz, where he wrote seven out of ten songs in the film, composed by Rachita Arora. Two of his songs, Bahut Hua Sammaan and Chhipkali, were much appreciated for their political tone.[15]

He has also written the title song of the Amazon web series, Chacha Vidhaayak Hai Humaare, composed by Vishal Dadlani.[16] His latest work as a lyricist in the album of the web series 'TVF Tripling Season 2' has also been appreciated, especially the song "Ishq Ka Haafiz".

He has been very vocal in his opposition to Citizenship Amendment Act which is to give expedited citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians facing religious persecution in Islamic Theocracies of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. He has been critical of the incumbent government's policies and has helped the movement with his poems, performed at various protest sites.[17]