KARACHI: Finally, someone in Pakistan remembered the services of the great music composer from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) Robin Ghosh. The tribute to Ghosh, who passed away on Feb 13 in Dhaka, was organised by Amateurs’ Melodies at a local club on Friday evening.

The host of the show, Sultan Arshad, provided some important nuggets of information to the audience each time he invited amateur vocalists to sing a Ghosh song. He said the composer was born in Baghdad in 1937. His father used to work in Iraq and his mother was Arab. In the 1940s the family returned to Dhaka. As Ghosh grew up to become a music director, he composed songs for five Bangla films first — beginning with the movie titled Raj Dhanir Bhookay — and subsequently worked on Urdu film projects.

Mr Arshad said once Ghosh even made the eminent playback and ghazal singer Talat Mahmood sing in Bengali for a film. A little later Ghosh met a girl named Jharna Basak (who went on to become one of the most successful film actresses of Pakistan and was known in the film world as Shabnam). Ghosh’s first Urdu film was Chanda in 1961. The second was Talash, for which he was nominated in the best music director category for the prestigious Nigar Awards.

The musical evening then formally began with Naushad Ali singing a song ‘Kucch apni kehyey’ from Talash, sung in the movie by Bashir Ahmed. The next song was the famous Ahmed Rushdie-Najma track ‘Jaane mujhe yeh kia ho gaya’ from the film Bhayya. It was performed by Naeem Aziz and Florence Thomas.

Introducing the next song to music buffs, Mr Arshad said 1967 proved to be the turning point in Ghosh’s career with the release of Chakori. It was a box office hit and made the actor Nadim (Nazir Baig) into a star. He invited Naushad Ali and Florence Thomas to sing the famous song ‘Kahan ho tum ko dhoond rahi hai’ sung in the film by Nazir Baig and Firdausi Begum. The Ahmed Rushdie version of the song ‘Kabhi to tum ko yaad aaengi’ was performed by Naeem Aziz. Mahrukh Khan and Aamir Agha sang two more songs from the same album ‘Woh merey saamne tasveer’ and ‘Tujhe chahein meri baanhein’, respectively. The latter’s performance was particularly appreciated.

Naeem Aziz and Florence Thomas presented the toe-tapping Ahmed Rushdie-Mala number ‘Mujhe talash thi jis ki’ from the film Jahan Tum Wahan Hum, which was followed by the blockbuster film Aaina’s memorable Mehdi Hasan-Mehnaz song ‘Mujhe dil se na bhulana’, performed by Aamir Agha and Uroosa Ali. Uroosa, Mr Arshad told the audience, is a cousin of the late playback vocalist Mehnaz.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2016