Music director Nisar Bazmi composed music for more than a hundred Indian and Pakistani films in a career that spanned over 50 years. The story of his road to stardom is no less than an engaging filmi tale:

It was in 1953 during the show Binaca Geetmala on Radio Ceylon that a song Chanda ka dil toot gaya sung by Muhammad Rafi was played. A young student of Lahore’s FC College instantly developed a liking for it. However, he could not get the name of the composer. After many attempts, the only thing the 18-year-old could gather was the name of the film, Khoj.

Years later, that student, Saeed Fazli, passed his CSP exams but started assisting his father, who was a retired government official, run a film production company called Dabistan Limited. In 1962, Fazal Ahmed Karim Fazli had directed, produced and wrote Chiragh Jalta Raha. Fazli Junior was still perplexed about the composer of the song he had heard on the radio until he got a friend’s call who wanted him to meet Nisar Bazmi, a music director from India.

Talking to Icon from the US, the 83-year-old Saeed Fazli recalled his first meeting with Bazmi in Karachi. “An extremely courteous Bazmi Sahib informed me that he had composed for some 40 films, mostly B- and C-class films, in India. In order to move to the A category, he was looking for options in Pakistan. He presented his work in the records he brought with him. It had songs sung by Lata, Asha, Suman Hemadi (later Kalyanpur), Shamshad Begum and Rafi. He said his orchestras were small because of budget restrictions, but he was capable of using bigger ones because he was aware of musical notations and Urdu poetry.

“Lyricists such as Majrooh Sultanpuri had written for him and he introduced the very talented lyricist Anand Bakshi in films as well. Also, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan wrote the famous Rafi hit Chanda ka dil toot gaya for him.”

Saeed Fazli had found his man and took him to his father, who was looking for a music director for his film Aisa Bhi Hota Hai. Bazmi was associated with films since 1946 and never had a chance to compose for Noor Jehan, who left for Pakistan after Partition a year later. 

ABHH provided him with the opportunity to work with Noor Jehan. Ho tamanna aur kia, Jan-i-tamanna aap hain is one of the songs sung by the legendary singer for him. Bazmi had arrived in Pakistan. On the other hand, two of the pupils who performed with his orchestra did make it big in India, something even he could not have achieved had he stayed back. They were Laxmikant Kudalkar and Pyarelal Sharma.

Nisar Bazmi was one of the finest music directors that the subcontinent has produced. He composed film songs both in undivided India and later in Pakistan. March 22 marked his 11th death anniversary. Icon looks back at his illustrious career

Talking to Icon from India, the 80-year-old Sharma Pyarelal said, “Bazmi was a very learned person and an excellent musician. Laxmikant used to play mandolin while I played the violin in films he composed music for. We played for him for six years.”

Pakistani music director Javed Allah Ditta had played under Bazmi, too. “I performed with him for many films and usually played guitar and sitar for his songs. The famous ones are Muhabbat, Naag Munni and Umrao Jan Ada, all carrying melodious soundtracks. The sitar I played for the ghazal Ranjish hi sahi, later became my identity. Bazmi was an accomplished poet himself and many a time would write mukhras of his compositions which would be later picked up by the lyricists,” Allah Ditta said.

Bazmi’s next film was Fazli’s maiden venture Waqt Ki Pukar. It was March 5, 1965 when Bazmi hit the right note to stardom. ”Our first song Jaan-i-mann aaj tu jo paas nahin in the voice of Mehdi Hasan was being recorded. Afzal Husain, who went on to co-produce Lakhon Mein Aik (LMA) with Raza Mir, was my chief recordist. He was so impressed by the song that he phoned Raza Mir, also the director of LMA, to rush to the studio and listen to the song. Back in less than an hour, with 5,000 rupees in cash as the signing amount, Raza Mir took Bazmi’s signature on a blank piece of paper and booked him for the film,” Fazli said.

Bazmi went on to compose for every known director from the late ’60s till the early ’80s. Veteran actor Shahid owes his career to Bazmi as well. He said, “The songs Bazmi composed for my early films changed the course of my career. Films such as Tehzeeb, Umrao Jaan, Pyasa, Anmol and Ek Gunah Aur Sahi helped me establish myself as an actor.”

Bazmi had a fertile imagination. He used to study the storyline of a film before composing songs for it. In 1980, he shifted from Lahore to Karachi. In 1998, he composed for his last film Very Good Dunya Very Bad Loag after a gap of nine years. He won his last and seventh Nigar Award for the film.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 25th, 2018