It is already six years when the nightingale of Pakistan Melody Queen Noor Jehan was plucked away from our midst on December 23, 2000 by the inexorable angel of death. Her illustrious career spanned well over 60 years, which was perhaps the longest of any female artiste associated with film industry in South Asia or anywhere except Lata Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhosle.
There is no denying the fact that very few singers have in the past commanded so much respect from their fans as did melody queen Noor Jehan both from professional musicians and connoisseurs from whom she won much praises. The appeal of her golden, silky voice mesmerised in the past and continues to captivate the listeners even now courtesy electronic reproductive devices that help music lovers to bring back the memories of the golden period of music when ruled the roost.
The Kasur-born (1928), singer artiste made her debut as a child star/singer at the age of seven in 1935 in a Punjabi films titled Sheela alias pind di kurri, which was produced by Madan Theater, Calcutta in her sweetly lisped tuneful voice. At that time, she also enacted the role of (child) Heer in the Punjabi romantic epic Heer Sial. A few years later, when her family moved out of Calcutta she shifted to Lahore along with her elders and recorded a few songs in her voice for another Punjabi movie Gul Bakauli, tunes for which were invented by Master Ghulam Haider.
In 1941, when she was in her teens and was known as baby Noor Jehan, She was signed by producer-studio-owner Dalsukh M. Pancholi as heroine for his Urdu film Khandaan, which was directed by Syed Shaukat Husain Rizvi, with whom she tied nuptial knot in Bombay a couple of years later. That was the turning point in her career, as with the success of Khandaan at the box office, Noor Jehan joined the ranks of frontline singing actresses of the silver screen in British India.
She utilised about 30 years of her life as a singing actress; from film Khandaan (1941) released in 1942, to the film Ghalib in 1961, both of which were produced from Lahore-one before partition of India and the other after the creation of Pakistan. After the film Ghalib, she changed the direction of her career by offering her voice for playback singing in Pakistani films. In that category she became more popular than she was as a singing actress. Noor Jehan was a pupil of Kasur-born Sarangi player Ustad Ghulam Muhammad, from whose expertise she benefited till the death of the mentor.
The film Khandaan, her first as a heroine, was a super-hit, which put Noor Jehan on the cinematic map of the Subcontinent alongside frontline stars of the Indian Silver Screen during the decade of the 1940s. Almost all of its songs, composed by Master Ghulam Haider, became widely popular, starting with Urr Jaa Panchhi Urr Jaa, and moving on to Hum Aankh macholi khailainge, Merey leeye jehan main and Too kaun see badli mein maire chaand hai aa ja. Senior citizens still recall to their minds the reverberations of those songs, which still sound sweet on their ears.
Following the tumultuous success of Pancholi Arts Productions film Khandaan, Noor Jehan shifted to Bombay, which was then emerging as the centre of Indian film industry, where she acted in several films namely Nadaan, Duhaai and Naukar, all of which did not do well at the box office. It was the film Dost, which provided the much-needed break to her. All its songs composed by Sajjad Husain hit the bull’s eye and contributed much to the success of the film. Shaukat Rizvi was its director. Her film Barri Maan, whose songs also won wide popular acclaim set new record at popularity. Composer K. Dutta scored music for that movie. But the film, which made Noor Jehan a superstar of the 1940s, was producer-director Mahboob’s Anmol Gharri for which composer Naushad Ali invented tunes.
Although musical scene in Pakistan has remained bereft of her towering personality for six years, her presence in Pakistani musical ethos is still felt, courtesy reproductive audio video devices. Just a flick of the knob or a twist of a button, and there she is on the screen of your television receiving set, smiling, singing and gesturing.
