India, May 17 -- When one talks about qawwali and poet Sahir Ludhianvi in the same breath, the older among the readers don't need to be prompted for their thoughts turn to a 1960 Bollywood film Barsat Ki Raat, starring Madhubala and Bharat Bhushan. The rhythms, beats, and poetry of the qawwals rise in their memories, and their very souls surrender completely to the word "Ishq". This word can best be translated as intense love, be it for the lord or the beloved. But the younger ones may be confused as their rendezvous with this qawwali has been in a recent blockbuster film, Dhurandhar, termed a spy thriller of hate and revenge. The young will recall it as 'Dil Jala Kar Karwan', the title used in the film with the protagonist a popular hero making frightening and ugly faces as he travels across the border to avenge a wrong. While the film has been a box-office success, a strong protest came from Sabeer Bhatia, the founder of Hotmail. This Indo-American entrepreneur took it upon himself to cry out and damn the culture of hate. For others, the confounding of the sacred verses of love and surrender has been a 'blunder of sorts' with the very roots of the genre. Before delving deeper into the controversy, it is best to explore the roots of this music and why it is considered sacred. Qawwali arises from the very soul of South Asia and from the deep Sufi tradition that emerged in the region we now know as India and Pakistan in the 13th century - a tradition that places love above all creeds. As Sahir Ludhianvi dared to say, bringing in his mother tongue Punjabi to lay stress on Ishq above all differences: 'Ishq na puchhe deed dharam te Ishq na puchhe jaatan' (love does not question caste, creed or religion). Bobby Friction, DJ and TV show host, BBC Asian Network, gives an apt description: "It is the physical and musical manifestation of the Sufi religious tradition in South Asia. Powerful, poetic and transcendent, its hypnotic rhythms and melodies celebrate God, love and music as one." While brooding on the journey of this qawwali, which has been sung with passion by many including famed singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and is once again making waves albeit amid some controversy, one came across an interesting podcast by someone called K. Hindi. With a little effort, it led one to the podcaster who is a professor of International Relations in Jindal University in Sonepat with the full name of Mohsin Ali Khan. Besides critiquing the culture of hate in Dhurandhar, the podcast traced its trajectory from the original version by Ameer Baksh Sabri, a poet who migrated from Khurja in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh to Lahore in the great divide of 1947. Khan points out that the original had a different opening line 'Na tao butkade ki talab mujhe (I seek not the temple of Gods) na to haram ke dar ki talash hai (nor the doorway to sacred sanctuary)'. He adds, "How Sabri's words reached the skilled hands of Ludhianvi is yet another story. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's father and uncle, Mubarak Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan who had migrated from Jalandhar to Faisalabad in Pakistan, sang this qawwali in Lahore. On a visit to Mumbai they were invited to sing at actor Devanand's home". Those days 'Barsat Ki Raat' was in progress and R Chandra, brother of hero Bharat Bhushan, wanted it included in the film. Khayam was the music director and he declined because he did not want to take credit for someone else's composition so Roshan was brought in. Lyricist Ludhianvi was asked to alter it to suit the film, and he did so with his immense talent while keeping its secular spirit. The rest is history as love, pain and hope were embroidered in this genre. Mohsin sums up: It is pertinent to note that both Ludhianvi and Roshan were from Punjab which was divided into two parts, one in India and the other in Pakistan. And the original writer Sabri too was uprooted from one side to the other....