Munir Niazi

Munir’s creative endeavors date back from early ‘50s, when his foray into films and his far and few between appearances on mushaira gahs earned him early recognition. His filmi fame received a huge boost in the ‘60s when Naseem Begum sang his famous ghazal, Us Bewafa Ka Shehr Hai Aur Hum Hain Doston, for the film Shaheed, helmed by Khalil Qaiser. The song was brilliantly picturized on the gorgeous Musarrat Nazir. This was not it. Munir sahib wrote many a meaningful and rhapsodic numbers for Pakistani movies, some of which are now part of our film industry’s splendid past. My personal favorite is a song that he wrote for the film Susral, Jis Ne Meray Dil Ko Dard Diya. It was a masterfully composed melody, sung with great musical dexterity by the incomparable Mehdi Hassan and picturized on that insuperable actor of yesteryears, Allauddin. But these are a couple of biopics that most of us are fairly acquainted with. Munir sahib has also contributed his verses to films that never acquired box office success and were canned without many weeks of screening. For instance there was one film scripted (perhaps directed as well) by master writer Ashfaq Ahmed. It was titled Dhup Chhaon. Those who remember film opine that Munir Niazi wrote some of the best lyrics for this film. Sadly, Dhup Chhaon came a cropper at the box office.

Though Munir sahib’s film adventures have long been ceased, his literary journey continues on, and on with great gusto, inventiveness and creative flair.

He has so far published a number of collections, whose chronological order eludes my memory. But some of my all time preferred Munir Niazi books are Jungle mein dhanak, Saat rung, Aghaz-e-zamistan mein dobarah, Pehli baat hi aakhri thi and Ik dua jo mein bhol gaya. I still recall that when I was pursuing my degree in early ‘90s, many girls and boys carried Kuliyat-e-munir niazi with them and would recite his famous poem that is one of the finest proponents of romanticism in Urdu literature. The nazam is:

Hamesha der kar detaa huu.N mai. N
Zaruurii baat kahanii ho
Koii vaadaa nibhaanaa ho
Use aavaaz denii ho
Hamesha der ker detaa huu. N mai.n
badalte mausamo.n kii sair me.n
dil ko lagaanaa ho
kisii ko yaad rakhanaa ho
kisii ko bhuul jaanaa ho
hameshaa der kar detaa huu. N mai.n
kisii ko maut se pahale
kisii gam se bachaanaa ho
haqiiqat aur thiii kuchh
us ko jaa ke ye bataanaa ho
hameshaa der kar detaa huu. N mai.n

By Peerzada Salman

Suroor Barabankvi

Who can forget those soft words, those pleasing and lilting tunes and those memorable numbers like Yeh saman, mauj ka karvan and Teri yaad as gaee, ghum khushee mein dhal gaey, ik chiragh kya jala, sau charagh jai gaey, from the film Chand Aur Chandni. These and many other such haunting numbers were written by this brilliant and sensitive poet and lyricist, Suroor Barabankvi, whose contribution to literature is as prominent as his lifelong commitment to the film industry. Hailing from a small town of UP, called Barabanki, Suroor rose to the heights of popularity during the 1960s. His real name was Saeedur Rehman and he was born in 1919. His infatuation with East Pakistan began when he was first called to participate in the Independence Day Mushaira, at Dhaka, in 1951. He loved the response of the public there, and returned for another such congregation of poets in 1952. This time, he decided to settle there, getting a job in the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu office.

In 1962, when Captain Ehtesham made the first Urdu film, Chanda, Suroor Sahab wrote its story and script, apart from its songs. The Koel of Bengal, Firdausi Begum sang quite a few hits in Chanda. Suroor also wrote many of the decade conquering numbers, for Talash and Chand Aur Chandni, the mention of which even today, makes one so emotional about those days. In Talash, under the guidance of that master crafter, Robin Ghosh, he wrote such hits as Kuch apni kahiyye, kuch meri suniye (Bashir Ahmed, Firdausi) and that famous number by Bashir Ahmed, which was on everybody’s lips, Main rickshawala bechara. In Chand Aur Chandni, literally every song was the talk of the town, including Yeh saman (Mala), Teri yaad as gaee (Masood Rana), Lai ghata motiyon ka khazana (Mala chorus), Jan e tamanna khat hai tumhara (Ahmed Rushdi), Mera khayal ho tum (Masood Rana) and Tujhe pyar kee qasam hai (Mala and Masood Rana). Later, in Kajal, his lyrics and the resultant song, Yeh aarzoo jawan jawan, yeh chandni dhuan dhuan, sung so beautifully by Firdausi Begum, were a rage all over Pakistan. In Nawab Sirajuddaula, the finest historic movie ever to be made in this country, his ghazal, Hai yeh aalam tujhe bhulaney mein, ashk aatey hain muskuraney mein, by Firdausi Begum, was highly liked. Similarly, in Rehman’s own film, Milan, he wrote Tum salamat raho, muskurao hanso, main tumharey liyay geet gata rahoon. Another song of the same film was Tum jo milay pyar mila, which was one of the only two duets ever sung by Noor Jahan and Bashir Ahmed.

After the tragic Fall of Dhaka, Suroor shifted to Pakistan, but the light of those days seemed to have deserted him. He was depressed and sad, and although he wrote much poetry against the system and the governments, as a true progressive poet that he was, people who knew him felt he wasn’t the same Suroor he was in times before these. Still, his lyrics for films continued to touch the people with their sensitive fiber, as can be ascertained from numbers like Runa Laila’s Hamein kho kar bohot pachtaoge jab hum naheen honge in film Ehsas. In Aaina, all his numbers were glorious hits, but Mehdi Hasan’s Kabhi main sochta hoon kuch na kuch kahoon was the rebirth of Mehdi Hasan. Who can forget the undying hit by Akhlaq Ahmed, Saman who khwab sa saman, milay the dil se dil Jahan, in Nazrul Islam’s film, Naheen Abhi Naheen. It was composed brilliantly by Robin Ghosh, and those who know Suroor, will understand what these poetic lines meant. He was fondly recalling the days he had spent in that atmosphere of love and harmony in Dhaka.

Suroor Sahab made three films. His first such effort was Aakhri Station, which he made on Hajra Masroor’s short story, Pagli. Shabnam played a dumb and deranged girl in it, who loiters on the railway station. It was an artistically dealt movie. He also made Krishan Chandar’s short story, Anjan, into a haunting film, called Tum Mere Ho. Its songs like Mala’s superb number, Wahi gham hai wahi tanhai were quite famous. In this wing, he made Aashna, on poetess Waheeda Naseem’s short story, Begangi, but it didn’t do well. He wanted to make his fourth film on the Dhaka tragedy and the POWs, the script of which was almost written down, and was titled Camp No. 333. He had gone to Dhaka to finalize arrangements for its shooting, where he had a heart attack and died on 13th April, 1980.

Saifuddin Saif

Saifuddin Saif was born in Amritsar, in 1922, but most of his higher education was completed in Lahore, where he graduated from Government College. Punjab being the hub of cultural activities, influenced his hobbies, with more literary activities. His poetry evolved and he wrote some very powerful poems during his college days, which immensely made him very popular throughout Punjab. He was already inclined towards writing for films, but the films for which he had written lyrics before partition, were not released due to the traumatic conditions in the subcontinent. Teri Yaad the first film to be released in Pakistan in 1948, started its shooting before partition. Saif wrote songs for it and got a lot of praise for the freshness of his poetry. But the first film he did after Partition was Hichkoley, in 1949. Amanat (1950) and Naveli (1952) were his earliest films, but the true flourish in his career came in 1953, when his songs in Ghulam, Mehbooba became hits. Especially, a duet by Inayat Hussain Bhatti and Munawwar Sultana, titled Koi Soag Hai Fiza mein, in Mehbooba is a memorable one. But, an all conquering hit was yet to be materialized, which turned out to be Payal Mein Geet Hain cham cham ke, in Gumnam (1954), which was so brilliantly sung buy Iqbal Bano under the supervision of the most incredible music director, Master Inayat. It was a number which also became a hot cake in India. This promoted Saifuddin Saif to inaugurate his own film making called Rehnuma Films in 1954. He scripted and presented a film, Raat Kee Baat on this banner, which flopped miserably, but his next movie, in 1957, titled Saat Lakh, literally minted money, as its name and script suggested.

Rasheed Attre gave unforgettable tunes for the film. Who can forget those lilting numbers from his pen like Aaye mausam rangilay suhanay (Zubaida Khanum), Qarar lootney waley (Munir Hussain), etc. They are still on every tongue, even after 50 years of their release. In this context, it must be noted that the first Nigar Award ever to be given to a film-maker, was given to Saifuddin Saif for Saat Lakh, in 1958. He also got Nigar for the best scriptwriter of that film.

In 1959, Saif Sahab came up with another pearl, which was the film Kartar Singh. He had written its sterling script and dialogues, and also directed it with a perfect vision. Allauddin did the central role, which was also to catapult the artiste to newer heights. The film had his lyrics too, but the most stunning song of the whole film was penned by Waris Shah, titled Aj aakhan Waris Shah noon. He later wrote the scripts for his films, Darwaza, Madar-e-Watan and Lut Da Maal. While he also penned impressive scripts for Hasan Tariq Sawal, and much later, for his film Kaloo. He wrote dialogues for Hasan Tariq’s Umrao Jan Ada, Hasan Tariq’s Askari’s Aan, Raza Meer’s Sohni Mahiwal, and Punjabi film Siddha Rasta, etc. His brilliant dialogues in film Professor, a masterpiece of oration by Mohammad Ali, were the highlight of the 1970s.

Saif Sahab, meanwhile, had completed his poetry collection, Kham-e-Kakul, which is full of brilliant ghazals and poems. Poems like Raat kee besukoon khamoshi mein, sung by Mehdi Hasan so sensitively in Sawal, and Loag kehte hai ke parbat se nikal kar chashme, sung by Mehnaz for Sangdil, were carried in Kham-e-Kakul, which were taken later for films. Amongst the films that he wrote his memorable lyrics, for include films like Toofan (Aaj yeh kisko nazar ke samne paata hoon main), Qatil (Ulfat kee nai manzil ku chala), Inteqam, (Dugdugi baja ke), Lakht-e-Jigar (Woh khwab suhana toot gaya), Wadah (Jab tere shehr se guzarta hoon), Aankh Ka Nasha (Bichwa bajey re), Anarkali (Kahan tak sunoge kahan tak sunaoon), Azra (Sab dagh-e-dil charagh bana kar), Tehzeeb (Aaja hum kyun rahein akele), Shama Parwana (Main tera shehr choor jaoonga), Anjuman, (Lag rahee hai mujhe aaj sari faza), Umrao Jan Ada (Katey na katey re ratiyan), Suraiyya Bhopali (Tha yaqeen ka aaeingee yeh raatan kabhi), etc.

It was due to such masters of their trade and that irrepressible literary influence that Lollywood had that unmistakable Seepia hue to it. People like Tanvir Naqvi, Fayyaz Hashmi, Saif, Hazeen Qadri, Jalib, Qateel Shifai, Faiz, Ahmed Rahi, Suroor Barabankvi, Himayat Ali Shehr and others, who made the vital difference with the scripts, dialogues, lyrics and an overall feel of art and craft. With their departure from the industry, who could the industry look up to?

Saifuddin Saif died at the age 72 in 1993.