Noor Jehan first sang Faiz’s poem Mujh se pehli si muhabbat in the early 50s in one of the charity shows organized by the Punjab Red Cross at Lahore’s University Hall. Before this she had never sung at a live concert. She was not fond of singing on request, either. Thus, it was a great event in the history of Lahore.
I don’t know who composed the tune, but it was different from what we had listened to in the film Qaidi. The earlier tune was more classical in nature. The Qaidi tune was composed by Rashid Attre whom, in one of his Bombay stories, Manto had named as Van Katre. Those who attended the university hall concert later told us that her performance was superb. She swept the audience with the beautiful rendition of Faiz’s poetry.
Earlier, in her last film in pre-Partition India named Jugnu, she had sung a song Aaj ki raat. This beautiful melody is still admired by listeners when played. It was written by Adeeb (Saharanpuri perhaps) and composed by Feroze Nizami (an uncle of Mudassar Nazar and brother of cricket Nazar Muhammad). The song was actually derived from Faiz’s poem Aaj ki raat saaz-i-dard na chherr. The other poet had changed it to Aaj ki raat saaz-i-dil-i-purdard na chherr.
Saadat Hasan Manto, in his book Noor Jehan, Saroor-i-Jaan, had written that once Noor Jehan was invited to Manto’s house on Beadon Road. After dinner was over, the hosts insisted that she should sing something. They say Noor Jehan normally discouraged such things. She told them that she did not sing without music, etc, but on insistence by Manto, she sang Faiz’s poem Aaj ki raat saz-i-dard na chherr. That Noor Jehan had special rapport with Faiz can be assessed by the fact that in any mushaira, Faiz would never recite the poem Mujh se pehli si muhabbat himself and always said that he had passed on the poem to Noor Jehan and it was now her baby. It happened in my presence as well in Abbottabad and Abu Shamim Arif also testifies this in one of his articles on Faiz.
Noor Jehan arrived in Lahore after Partition with her husband, Shaukat Husain Rizvi and children, and stayed on Davis Road in an exotic bungalow called Sheesh Mahal, an evacuee property. The period preceding Partition was the most productive in her career. She had two box-office films to her credit in 1946-7. They were Anmol Ghari and Jugnu. Earlier, she had acted and sung in many successful films in Lahore and Mumbai. The two films had taken India by storm. In Jugnu, Dilip Kumar had for the first time stolen the limelight after Jawar Bhata. Noor Jehan’s songs were a rage among young cinema-goers. Much did not change in Mumbai after 1947, but Lahore did receive a setback because all important producers and studio owners had left for India.
Noor Jehan had started her film career from Lahore in the 1930s when she sang her first song for Gul Bakaoli. Then she was just eleven years of age. Critic and writer, Prof Syed Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, wrote an interesting article based on his memories in which he talked about Noor Jehan as a child and her earlier life. People are now aware that Noor Jehan, whose real name was Allah Rakhi, came from Kasur. This town is also the birthplace of many other well-known singers, including Ustad Barre Ghulam Ali Khan. Jalalpuri has also talked about the Ustad in his article. He tells us about an Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan called Behre Khan, who represented the Kerana Clan of singers. “He was a flabby person with big moustaches and used to wear flower beads around his wrist. He always held a rosary in his hand. For a long time, he played sarangi with a dancer of Faisalabad. In those days, he was accompanying Zeenat Begum and her sister, Heera Bai, of the Shahi Mohallah. He was not on good terms with Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan, but later used to sit prostate in front of Barre Ghulam Ali Khan. The ustad had magic in his voice. Once he sang Shudh Kalyan and mesmerized every one present there.”
I have written about these two music stalwarts because both of them in one way or other were concerned with the development of Noor Jehan’s singing. While talking about the musical evenings being held at his cousin’s house in Lahore, Jalalpuri tells us: “I suggested to him to invite Ustad Waheed Khan alias Behre Khan and Inayat Bai Dherowali with other singers. When the list was prepared, the name of a Baiji was included who used to come with a ten or eleven year old small and sprightly girl called Noori. One day, Khuda Bakhsh (servant) announced that some people from Kasur were staying in Lahore and were keen to see him. It was just a formality and Pir Sahib (Jalalpuri’s cousin) said yes. The same day, in the afternoon, came a young woman called Eidan Bai. She was a flabby round-shaped woman. Pir Sahib talked to her about her background. She was accompanied by a ten or eleven-year-old girl who would not sit still for a moment. She went out of the room and some children caught her, asking to sing otherwise they would beat her. Scared, she retreated inside. Pir Sahib who had heard what had transpired outside, asked Eiden Bai who that girl was. Eidan replied “She is my younger sister, Noori”. “Noori...?”
“Her name is Noor Jehan but they call her Noori in the household.” Pir Sahib inquired, “Has she started learning?”
“Yes, she is learning from her brother.” Then Pir Sahib asked the little girl, “Won’t you tell us your lesson?” The little girl said, “Yes...” and immediately started humming something. Pir Sahib had a friend called Seth Pancholi. He asked him to do something for Eidan and Noor Jehan and also talked to the radio people. One day, I went to the drawing room and saw the two sisters sitting there and talking to Pir Sahib. Pir Sahib asked the little girl, “I hear you are singing in a Pancholi film?” “Yes...,” the girl replied with sparkling eyes. “What is the song?” Pir Sahib asked out of curiosity. Noor Jehan stood up like a spark and started singing with gestures “Shala jawanian mane, akha na morrin. Pi lae, Pi lae....”
I was flabbergasted due to her voice and its classical tinge. Pir Sahib applauded her, “Long life for you.”
Reacting to the applause Noor Jehan, in her juvenile fancy, jumped to the middle of the room, started singing with devotion and taking a glass from the table, brought it near one of the guests and sang: “Pi lae, Pi lae. Pir Sahib and I started laughing. After the song, Pir Sahib told Eidan to look after her training. It was an important day in the life of Noor Jehan that her talent got exposed to Pir Sahib and he started patronizing her. He liked this song so much that Pir Sahib listened to it repeatedly. Due to this song, Noor Jehan became Baby Noor Jehan from simple Noori. Jalalpuri adds, “Noor Jehan sings like a nightingale and no one can match her exotic style which mesmerizes everyone from the ignoramus to the learned. People call her Melody Queen, but I call her the Nightingale of Pakistan.”
Jalalpuri has written about another sitting in which Akhtari Bai Faizabadi was also present. She had come from Lucknow and was, as usual, a guest of Pir Sahib. Akhtari was keen to listen to Ustad Ummid Ali Khan who was a handsome young man and Akhtari was showing all her feelings towards him. Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan alias Behre Khan was also present. When everyone had sung to the full and it was past midnight, Pir Sahib sportingly asked Noor Jehan, “Noor Jehan, you have not presented your lesson today!” Noor Jehan was sitting in a corner. She got up and respectfully said, “Sir, how can I sing after Khan Sahib (Ummid Khan)? Pir Sahib said, “We shall get you the permission.” Noor Jehan looked at Khan Sahib who gave his consent with a nod. Noor Jehan’s brother sat on the harmonium and started the alap of Aiman Kalyan. Noor Jehan sat prostate and with her small hands folded together and prayed looking towards the sky. She started the alaap: “Ni re ga re ni re ni sa....” Everyone sat wondering. Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan leaned forward, putting the cup of his hand on his ear. Pir Sahib was in ecstasy. “May God keep you away from evil,” he said. Noor Jehan sang with complete involvement. There was pin-drop silence when she finished her singing. Then Jalalpuri saw a strange sight. Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan got up and spread his arms towards Noor Jehan. She came forward and Khan Sahib, holding her head between his hands, planted a kiss on her forehead and exclaimed, “Allah ki dain hai” (Its God’s gift). Jalapuri writes:” I am sure that at that moment Noor Jehan had seen a glimpse of her bright future. I am still sorry that filmdom took Noor Jehan away from classical singing. But again, I am happy that had she confined herself to classical music.”
In his sketch, Noor Jehan Saroor-i-Jan he has described how an affair developed between Shaukat Rizvi and her during the picturization of Khandaan and Noor Jehan defied her sister. The romance led to the secret marriage that unravelled a bombshell for Noor Jehan’s family members and her mentors. Manto became very friendly with the couple and he has written details of the meetings of the lovers which revealed to him that she was secretly married. Manto wrote the story of Dost that was directed by Shaukat Rizvi and besides being the female lead in the film, Noor Jehan sang for it. That was the period when producers used to sign singing actors because playback singing had not developed yet.
In Mumbai Noor Jehan made Zeenat, Dost, Mirza Sahiban, Gaon Ki Gori and Jugnu. She became the rage during the period immediately preceding Partition.
Manto revived his contacts with Noor Jehan in Lahore and she was a guest at his Lakshmi Mansion flat many times. In his sketch, Manto has written about these functions and also about some of her habits. For instance, she never took special care of her vocal chords and would eat pickles or drink ice-cold water indiscriminately.
Her nightingale’s voice suffered on account of different reasons in Pakistan. First, the recording equipment was much poorer as compared to the one in Mumbai. Secondly, she had to sing in a shrill voice for Punjabi films when she became a playback singer. But in spite of these technical handicaps, she reigned supreme in the film world and was matchless in her performance. Had she remained in India, Ghulam Haider would not have discovered Lata. It was the desire of every poet of Pakistan that she sing his ghazals and she obliged many of them.
