Noted Gujarati poet Khalil Dhantejvi passes away

A native of Dhantej village in Vadodara district, Dhantejvi’s original name was Makrani Ibrahim. He had adopted the pen-name ‘Khalil Dhantejvi’ while writing poetry and short stories and he became popular by it.

Dhantejvi had also worked as a journalist for significant time, while also directing and writing some films.

Ankit Trivedi, a noted young Gujarati poet and close friend of Dhantejvi, recalled his immense contribution in making Gujarati ghazal popular among the masses, some of which were sung by late Jagjit Singh.

Trivedi said, “Khalil Saheb always wrote poetry on humanity and human beings, rather than limiting himself within the borders of traditions or experiments. Khalil saheb always said that he was writing the poetry of a human being.”

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Dhantejvi’s “contributions will always be remembered for making Gujarati ghazal interesting”.