"Gulon Mein Rang Bharay", a popular poem written by Faiz while he was in jail in Pakistan, has been used in the upcoming film "Sikandar" by director Piyush Jha. The film revolves around the life of a young boy growing up in violence torn Kashmir.

"Poetry is a powerful tool to bring people together just like Bollywood and in times of strife, artistes like Faiz become bridges to unite people from both sides of the border," Hashmi, who is in India for talks regarding a cross-cultural theatre festival for peace, told a reporter in an interview.

Hashmi, who owns the copyright to all her father's work, said, "My father believed that once a poem is published it is people's property and I believe the same. Faiz is being used in India in films and theatre and it reflects how revered he is here."

Jha, who took special permission from Hashmi to use the song in "Sikandar", said "Gulon Mein" was one of his favourite poems while growing up and the poem kept coming to him while writing the story of the film.

"It was one poem which I could not take out of my mind while writing the story and I decided to include it in my film as it sums up the spirit of the film," Jha said.

However, it is not for the first time that Faiz has been quoted in Bollywood, filmmaker Muzaffar Ali extensively used Faiz's poetry in his film ‘Anjuman’ and the poet has often found a place in Javed Akhtar's songs.

Recently, Nandita Das included one of the Pakistani poet's most popular poem ‘Subah-e-Azadi’ in her directorial debut ‘Firaaq’.

The poem was written by Faiz in the wake of Partition and describes the sadness that followed the jubilation of freedom achieved in 1947.

Faiz was the first Asian poet to be awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Prize in 1963. Considered one of the most influential Urdu poets of modern times, Faiz was at the helm of the Progressive Writer's movement in Pakistan.

His poetry often is a clarion call for peace and love in the times of hatred and blood shed, and often reflects the poet's irreverent attitude towards instituitionalised authority.

Hashmi believes that her father's poetry is best relevant in times of strife as hatred forces people to look for sane voices.

"Faiz has always been a poet of hope and "Gulon Mein" despite being written during his jail term talks about hope for spring," she added.

Hashmi, an artist and human rights activist in Pakistan, was also part of the peace delegation that visited India post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Reacting to a question about the backlash suffered by Pakistani artistes after the terror attacks in Mumbai, Hashmi said, "I understand the anger but it is short sightedness to stop people to people contact. By doing so we are only furthering the motives of the people behind such attacks. The anger needs to be turned into positive force against perpetrators of such violence."

Hashmi says it is only natural that Bollywood attracts talent from Pakistan because there is no language and cultural barrier between the two countries.