Meena Shorey in Akhari Nishan (1958)

Akhari Nishan was Meena Shorey’s last hit film in Pakistan as a leading lady. After Akhari Nishan, her films started to flop and she was demoted to supporting/negative roles. Akhari Nishan was an action film, where Meena played the lead opposite Pakistan’s first action hero Sudhir (Shah Zaman Khan).

The music of this film was composed by Rehman Verma. Rehman Verma made his debut with the music director Khaiyyam as Vermaji-Sharmaji composer duo in the Indian Hindi film Heer Ranjha in 1948. Later, he left for Pakistan and composed the music of Baaghi (1956) followed by Akhari Nishan (1958). Almost all songs from this film were melodious including Rut hai suhani, Hum bhi awaara panchi etc.

Tu meri rani mein tera raja is a ghoda-ghadi song [ ghoda-ghadi songs were quite popular in those days ] and was picturized on Neelo and comedian Nazar. The male singer in this song remained a mystery till Nahid Niazi confirmed that it is S.D. Batish from India.

The second song was sung by Nahid Niazi and chorus for Meena Shorey and Neelo.

Anokha Pyar (1948) - Beqasoor (1950) CD

Anokha Pyar (1948) - Beqasoor (1950) CD credits

Listen to Meena Kapoor – Lata Mangeshkar version (Film Version) incorrectly attributed to Lata-Ira Nagrath by EMI and released on the above CD -

Listen to Lata Mangeshkar – Ira Nagrath version (Rare Record Version available with few collectors only) -

Yasmin in Humsafar (1960)

Very few people know that Sandhya Mukherjee sang 2 solos for Pakistani Film Humsafar (1960). Humsafar was West Pakistani film with Aslam Pervaiz and Yasmin in the lead supported by Nazar, Jaffrey and Nighat Sultana. The shooting of this was done in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) and its music was scored by Bengali music director Muslehuddin (Pakistani singer Nahid Niazi’s husband). Muslehuddin used two legendary singers from Indian Bengal to sing for this film i.e. Sandhya Mukherjee and Hemant Kumar. Two solos of Sandhya Mukherjee “Akhiyan Chalke” and “Sanware aao re” presented below didn’t gain much popularity, however, Hemant Kumar solo from this film “Raat suhani hai” became very popular”.

Sandhya Mukherjee sings Ankhiyan Chalke for Muslehuddin in Humsafar (1960).

Sandhya Mukherjee sings Sanware Aao re for Muslehuddin in Humsafar (1960).

Ghulam Mustafa Durrani and Lata Mangeshkar

One of the reasons that might have contributed to the downfall of G.M. Durrani was this incident which Lata mentions in the book “Lata Mangeshkar… in her own voice”.

“The first song I sang for Naushad was a duet with G.M. Durrani,- `Haye chhore ki jaat badi bewafa’ for Chandni Raat (1949). Durrani Sahib made a personal comment I didn’t like, about a necklace I was wearing and I mentioned this exchange to Naushad Sahib. He understood I was a sensitive person and didn’t want my feelings hurt. So he asked a young singer, Sadat Khan, to record another Chandni Raat (1949) duet with me — but this was edited out of the film. I believe a disc of the duet existed.”

This incident created the rift between G.M. Durrani and Lata Mangeshkar and that explains why they sang only 11 duets together.

Hemlata

“I have an irresistible pas­sion for performing on stage and I want to do something very radical, trend-setting, the like of which has never been attempted before on stage. I’ve observed the performances of artistes like Shir­ley Bassey Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley and, my greatest favourite, Nat King Cole. I have been impre­ssed and influenced beyond words by their capacity to move the audi­ence and also inspired to do some­thing better,” Hemlata, as she dis­cussed stage performances with me, had nearly forgotten that she had fever and instead of lying in bed as advised jumped up with excitement.

Today she can talk of these ambitious plans with coolness, she said, but had it not been for Mr. Gopal Mallik, a disciple of her father Pt. Jaichand Bhatt and now a Calcutta based music director, introducing her on stage at 12, stage singing and even playback singing would have been a distant dream for Hemlata.

Hemlata was born and brought up in a Rajasthani Brahmin family in Calcutta. Her father, Pt. Jaichand Bhatt, a very well known classical vocalist in Calcutta, of the illustrious kirana gharana and himself a disciple of Abdul Waheed Khan, was steeped in orthodox culture and was totally against her learning music, let alone performing on stage.

It was around the time Hemlata was 12 that Ravindra Jain, a dis­ciple of Pt. Jaichand Bhatt, used to regularly visit their home and play his own compositions in Bengali on the harmonium and little Hem­lata used to sing them. Hemlata’s mother encouraged her.

Gopal Mallik used to be on the organising committees of several big concerts and conferences. Once he managed to introduce Hemlata, 12 years old, before a large audience in a very big con­cert where Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Lata herself were to sing. He had especially invited Pt. Jaichand Bhatt to observe the performance of ‘a child prodigy’. At the same time, he kept it from Hemlata that her father would be in the audi­ence, lest she ran out of breath and shivered. Rafi, Kishore and Hemanta Kumar all regaled the audience with their numbers. Lata was to arrive late. Gopal Mallik took the opportunity and pro­duced little Hema on stage. Maes­tro V. Balsara was conducting the orchestra. They asked her what she was going to sing. “Jago mohan pyare”, she said. They refused to play it as Lataji herself was going to sing it. However, with hesitation they finally agreed to accompany her. “And believe me, even as I sang the first word Jago in a prolonged aalap the whole audience roared in appreciation. I finished the song but couldn’t leave the stage as the audience demanded ‘once more’. And you will be surprised, I had to sing the song four times and the appreci­ation didn’t stop at that—they made me sing 12 other songs in Bengali. It was a breathtaking experience for myself and the audience.

“For once, my father looked very happy with me. But it proved to be an illusion for me as he maintained that I must complete my studies, render help at home and in due course get married and so on”

All the same, her father expre­ssed a desire to meet their relatives in Bombay whom they hadn’t seen for long. And he came to Bombay in 1967 with his family. While in Bombay they visited Ustad Rais Khan. Hemlata was asked to sing and she sang one of her favourite compositions (Bengali) of Ravindra Jain. Next Hemlata received an invitation from Naushad. “Naushadji asked me to sing and was very happy that I was singing a non-filmic composition.

“Incidentally I was invited by Usha Khanna for whom I sang my first ever song in a film. And the next I sang for Kalyanjibhai. I must say here that the two persons who I respect most and admire most besides of course my father, are Ravindra Jain, who is my mentor and Kalyanjibhai—an extremely lovable personality.

“By now my father was reasonably proud of me and my success and, instead of going back to our place, Calcutta, we decided to stay on. Incidentally, Ravindra Jain also came to Bombay and started scor­ing music for Hindi films. Unfor­tunately his first film “Saudagar” was a flop. About the next one “Chor Machaye Shor”, Ravindra was terribly worried, but the film was a super hit and so was his music which brought him about 60 new contracts. And once he got estab­lished he gave me a break in his “Fakira” and later used my voice for “Chitchor” which fetched me the coveted Filmfare Award.

“Do you know one thing? I had stopped singing for over four years in the meanwhile as I found some­thing lacking in my voice—that ‘maturity’ which comes only with age. During that period I used to practice before a mike on the tape recorder, and it was only when I was fully confident and sure that I have overcome that drawback that I resumed singing. It was a foolish decision, though, in commercial terms, but having been born a daughter to a classical musician and belonging to a family where criticism is always sharp, I feel I did the right thing. Ultimately, music is a sadhana, a tapasya, not mere business.” – This interview was conducted in 1980

Renuka Devi

Renuka Devi was from Aligarh, India. She was perhaps the first highly educated Muslim lady from upper or rich class to join the Hindi film industry. Daughter of a barrister, she was already married when she was discovered by Devika Rani and introduced in Bombay Talkies Jeevan Prabhat (1937). Although, her joining the film industry was met with some resistance from orthodox Muslim community, her performances got glowing reviews in magazines. Even the usually caustic Baburao Patel of Filmindia magazine declared that “Bombay Talkies have found another Devika [Rani]” and that “her performance has that distinctive grace and poise which can only be associated with a lady of culture and education”

Renuka had a short career in Hindi film industry, and she migrated to Pakistan after independence. She stayed away from Pakistani Film Industry but joined the Pakistani Television [perhaps because Pakistani Television had better quality as compared to film industry in those days] with her real name Begum Khurshid Mirza and appeared in numerous dramas and plays. More than 70 years have passed and Renuka Devi still remains an anomaly both in India and Pakistan because girls from upper circles tend to stay away from the  film industry (They don’t have any reason to join the film industry unless they are pursuing it as a hobby).

This song from Bhabhi (1938) composed by Sarawati Devi was perhaps the most famous song of her career.

Sabiha Khanum in Ghulam (1953)

Master Ghulam Haider’s name needs no introduction on Indo-Pak music scene. Ghulam and Gulnaar were the last 2 films composed by Ghulam Haider in Pakistan before his untimely death in 1953 and both were studded with beautiful music. Pakistani film industry was at its initial stages then and producers couldn’t afford the salary Haider was making in Bombay. This kind of disappointed Haider and it is said that he died of broken heart in 1953.

Gulnaar was produced by Noor Jehan’s husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. Unfortunately, the print of the film doesn’t exist anymore because Shaukat destroyed all the negatives of this film after Noor Jehan-Nazar scandal. Ghulam starring Sabiha Khanum, Santosh Kumar, Shammi, Shamim and Himalayawala was a superhit film of its time and songs sung by Munawwar Sultana became very popular. This is one of my favorites from this soundtrack -

Munawwar Sultana sings for Sabiha Khanum in Ghulam (1953), music by Ghulam Haider.

Zareef, Charlie, Meena Shorey, Santosh Kumar, and Aslam Pervaiz in Miss 56 (1956)

Few months ago I blogged about Geeta Dutt singing for Pakistani film Miss 56 (1956). However, the following questions remained unanswered -

1. Where these songs were recorded? Miss 56 music was composed by  G.A. Chisthi. However, he never visited India, neither did Geeta ever visited Pakistan. Also, if you listen to these songs the composing style is not that of G.A. Chisthi.

2. The songs were rerecorded in the voices of Pakistani singers and used in the film [Whereas Geeta sang the 78 rpm record versions] . The rerecorded versions were attributed to Pakistani singer Nahid Niazi on various discussion forms. Nahid Niazi started her career in 1957, therefore it isn’t possible that she sang the Pakistani versions of these songs.

I asked Nahid Niazi about this and she confirmed that she never sang the Pakistani versions of these songs. According to her, there were certain instances where Pakistani producers purchased unused Indian songs and included them in Pakistani films.

I think in Miss 56 case, the songs were most probably recorded in India. The film was directed by Roop K. Shorey who came to Pakistan with his star-wife Meena to direct this film for J.C. Anand. And perhaps before coming to Pakistan, he may have recorded some songs in Geeta Dutt’s voice and then used them in Miss 56.

As far as who sang the rerecorded film versions of these songs, the question cannot be answered because the print of this film doesn’t exist anymore.

Geeta Dutt singing Ik baat sunati houn for Pakistani film Miss 56, music director remains unknown.

Geeta Dutt singing “Aeray gheray natho kheray” for Pakistani film Miss 56, music director remains unknown.

Listen to the song on youtube HERE, as embedding is disabled.

Jabeen Jalil in Raat Ke Rahi (1959)

Speaking of Raat Ke Rahi, Indian film with the same name was released an year earlier. The cast included Shammi Kapoor and lesser known heroine Jabeen Jalil (I will come back to her later). The film had some unusual music composed by lesser known music director Bipin Babul. Aa bhi ja bewafa sung by Asha Bhosle and Agha Sarvar is my favorite from this film. I remember the first time I heard this song, I kept on hearing it repeatedly. Tu kya samjhe is another nice song from this film.

Aa bhi ja bewafa – Asha Bhosle and Agha Sarvar

Tu kya samjhe – Asha Bhosle

Rehana in Raat ke Rahi (1960)

Majority of Rehana’s films in Pakistan including Shalimar (1956), Wehshi (1956) etc flopped at the box-office with the exception of Raat Ke Rahi (1960). Detective/Thriller Raat ke Rahi (1960) produced by Rehana’s husband Iqbal Shehzad was a superhit film of its time with Rehana and Darpan in the leading roles. The film is still remembered for its songs sung by Ahmed Rushdi and Zubaida Khanum and music by A. Hameed. The following 3 songs are my favorites from this soundtrack -

Aag se na khelo babu ji – sung by Zubaida Khanum and Ahmed Rushdi

Chakka chakka chii chai… O harjai zara samnai aa – Zubaida Khanum and chorus

Kiya hua dil pai sitam tum na samjho gayey balam – Zubaida Khanum