When Sahir Ludhianvi was writing the lyrics for Ramesh Sehgal's film "Phir Subh Hogi", based on Russian novelist Dostoevsky's famous novel "Crime and Punishment", he stipulated that film’s music would be scored only by a composer who has read Dostoevsky's novel. Although the film director wanted to take the duo of Shankar-Jai Kishan as composers, only Khayyam fulfilled Sahir's stipulation. What followed was Sahir penning some memorable lyrics that not only dovetailed beautifully with the film’s story, but also reflected the poet’s social concerns, perspectives, and humanism.
chin-o-arab hamara, hindostan hamara
rahane ko ghar nahi hai, sara jahan hamara
jitani bhi bildinge thi, setho ne bant li hai
futpath bambai ke hai ashiyan hamara

Sahir’s empathy was not just limited to his poems, as a matter of fact, he never took seat of the man-pulled rickshaws of that time.
At the young age of 18, the fame that Sahir obtained as a poet was something that very few others ever got. At the time of his stepping into the film industry, his collection of poems ‘Talkhiyan’, had become acclaimed in the extreme. He always considered the lyrics of film songs pivotal to their popularity. Moreover, it was Sahir who demanded that the name of the composer be announced along with the name of the composer in the film songs aired on the radio program ‘Vividh Bharati’; a demand which was well heeded to.

When a poet or author used to present their book to Ismat Chughtai, she would hold the book in her hands and sniff it for a little while. She has alluded to this habit of hers in an interview and many others, too, have witnessed it with their own eyes. She had supposedly also remarked that by smelling a book, she could literally take a whiff of it!
Ismat was also very fond of eating ice. In a child-like manner, she would take a lump of ice in her hand and munch on it clatteringly with her teeth. When writing a novel or short story, she would lie on her elbows, with a copy open on a pillow in front of her, a fountain pen in one hand and a lump of ice in the other. No matter how noisy her house was, it didn't bother her in the least when she was writing.

An important Urdu poet once remarked about Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz, "Urdu Shayari mein ek Keats paida hua tha jise taraqqi-pasand bheDiye uTha le gaye". This unique poet of romance and revolution did not get to live long owing to his excessive drinking habit. Along with his poetry, his sense of humor and quick-wittedness, too, is quite famous.
Once in Lucknow, Raja Mahmudabad advised Majaz with great affection:
“Dekho Miyan! Agar tum sharaab piina chhoD do, to main tumhare guzare ke liye chaar-sau rupiye maah-var vazifa (monthly allowance) muqarrar kar dunga.”
Majaz politely responded:
“Magar Raja Sahib! Ye to sochiye kih agar main sharab hi piina chhoD duu.n to phir char-sau rupiyon ka kya karunga?”

Pretty much the same sense of humor has passed down to Majaz’s nephew, the famous poet, lyricist, and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar’s genes.

Nida Fazli (1938-2016), whose real name was Muqtada Hassan Fazli, is obviously very famous as a poet and film songwriter, but he has also written his autobiography in a very unique way. “Diwaron Ke Baahar”, “Diwaron Ke Biich” are his two autobiographical works in which he tells his life story like a narrator. Nowhere is the first-person singular "I" used; throughout he maintains his pen-name ‘Nida’ as a character of some novel. All the characters in his autobiographical works are mentioned with their real names, and all the events are real, too.
Nida Fazli wrote forthrightly about his family, childhood, student years in Gwalior, experiences in Bombay, and love interests. And with the same forthrightness, he wrote about many others which included famous names from literature and cinema, many of whom became enraged at him.