Diehard fans of the legendary singer will be pleased to discover the book Malika-i-Tarannum Noor Jehan - The Melody Queen. Authored by film critic Aijaz Gul, it is apparently the third in line after two earlier works on the subject, namely Noor Jehan Fan Ke Ainey Mein in Urdu, by veteran film journalist Yasin Goreja and Melody Queen - Tributes to Pakistan`s superstar edited by S.M. Shahid.

In this well-researched book complimented by a collection of captivating photographs, the author has extracted material from varied sources ranging from Saadat Hasan Manto`s Noor Jehan Suroor-i-Jehan and Shaukat Hussain Rizvi`s Noor Jehan Ki Kahani Meri Zubani, to the earlier works of Goreja and S.M. Shahid. Yet, leafing through its pages, one finds the author struggling to draw a line between Noor Jehan the person and Noor Jehan the artist. Very often in the narrative, as much as in her life, the human frailties of one tend to overshadow the towering strength of the other.

Eight years after her death Noor Jehan deserves to be looked at for her inspiring and larger-than-life presence in the world of music, and not with the pettiness of our own judgments.

It is true that she was born into a family of poor musicians, a class that is condescendingly labeled in our part of the world. But then, one wonders, what would have been the consequence of her birth amongst the so-called elite of her day. In all likelihood her voice would have been confined to the four walls of her parents` house.

Here was a girl-child, the youngest of 12 siblings, who was blessed with beauty, voice and talent. Aptly named Allah Wasai, her assets were duly acknowledged by her poor parents as song and music were their bread and butter. Hardly four years old, she was placed under the tutelage of a formal ustad. By age seven, she stood on stage to sing `Hanstey hain sitarey ya Shah-i-Medina`, a naat composed by G.A. Chishti.

Having witnessed the promise held by this young girl, the enterprising family travelled all the way from Kasur in the Punjabi hinterland to Kolkata (or Calcutta as it was then called) on the coast of Bengal which was an emerging centre of Indian film-making. Here Allah Wasai was re-named Baby Noor Jehan and eagerly cast in child roles in the very first Punjabi talkies. Singing `Lang aaja pattan channa da o, yar` the nine-year-old laid the foundation of popular Punjabi music as we know it today.

By the age of 15 she was ready to be cast as a heroine in director Shaukat Hussain Rizvi`s Urdu classic Khandan. Its script was written by the famous playwright and author Imtiaz Ali Taj of Anarkali fame and shot at his residence in Lahore. This was the beginning of Noor Jehan`s career as India`s most sought after singer-actress, as well as her life-long association with the Taj family. The friendship was further strengthened when Noor Jehan and her director husband Shaukat Rizvi settled in Lahore after 1947.

Noor Jehan never attended a formal school but she groomed herself in the company of intellectuals
like Imtiaz Ali Taj, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sufi Tabassum and Khwaja Khursheed Anwer. The first time she lent her golden voice to the beauty of subtle verse was in 1947 in Mumbai. She sang `Aaj ki raat, saaz-i-dil-i-purdard na chaerr`, a variant on Faiz`s original poem for the movie Jugnu with the added privilege of having it picturised on herself, alongside an upcoming Dilip Kumar.

Jugnu completed her hat-trick in Bombay after the success of Zeenat (1945) and Anmol Gharri (1946). Noor Jehan later sang Faiz`s `Mujh se pehli si muhabbat mere mehboob na maang` in the early 1960s in Lahore. Faiz granted Noor Jehan a unique honour by presenting his magnum opus to her, for she had rendered it with utmost fidelity.
Indeed, she had an uncanny ability to delve into the subtleties of the written verse and then to express the emotion as her very own. Rendering a sorrowful song, her voice appeared soaked in tears, for example, `Chand hansey, duniya basey, roaey mera pyaar, re`, which was composed by Khursheed Anwer for Intezar (1956). Singing a joyous tune, the notes came forth as if dancing out of her moving lips, such as `Barri mushkil se hua tera mera saath, piya` composed by Nisar Bazmi for Lakhon mein aik (1967).

By the time she sang the war anthem `Ae puttar hattan te nai wikdey` in 1965 Noor Jehan was a middle-aged mother of six. As her voice paid homage to the sons of the soil, she appeared an epitome of graceful motherhood.
She was accused of infidelity. Her fleeting associations with men, cut-throat rivalries with fellow actors and singers, together with her displayed lack of tolerance for any one who happened to step onto her nail-polished toes, added fuel to the tabloid fire. The movie industry cashed in on her looks and lilting vocals, while the news media thrived on the sensation of the scandals she generated.

She was proclaimed `Malika-i-Tarannum` — The Queen of Melody — at the age of 19 for the songs she sang for the movie Zeenat in Bombay. Even though she reached the very heights of glorious stardom at such a young age, she did not cast away her parents and siblings and continued to look after them. Neither did she carry the acrimony of her two broken marriages for long and patched up with the family of her former husband, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi and his wife Yasmeen. Though betrayed by her second spouse, in the end she was the one to bail him out of prison in London when he was arrested for drug-trafficking. He was, after all, the father of her three daughters.
Perhaps conscious of her own lack of formal schooling, she ensured that her six children went to the best educational institutions. And having suffered the rigours of a demanding showbiz career, she kept them away from the studio spotlights. When the time came for them to get married all she desired for them was that they live happily ever after.
On the occasion of a daughter`s wedding Noor Jehan appeared beaming with pride and attired as always in her glamorous best. For the doting mother it was the high point of her personal achievement.

Fond of being photographed, she never pretended to be an angel. Once asked by journalist and author Kuldip Nayar about the exact count of her recorded songs, Noor Jehan, who was well known for her sharp sense of humour, quipped `I have neither kept an account of my committed sins, nor of the songs that I have sung for both are innumerable. I hope, my God will forgive me my trespasses and you will forgive me my ignorance.` n

Mallika-i-Taranum Noor Jehan
By Aijaz Gul
Vitasta Publishing, New Delhi
ISBN 81-89766-46-5
186pp. Indian Rs395