THIS refers to the letter ‘Immortal hits’ (June 9) which has paid tributes to late S.B. John for his famed Tu jo nahin hay tou kuch bhi nahin hay, which is fresh in the memories of many a generation.

While recalling one-song wonders, however, the letter missed one of the most popular and immortal songs Jab teray shehr say guzarta hoon sung by Sharafat Ali, which was composed by Rasheed Attre and whose lyrics were written by Saifuddin Saif for the movie Wada, a classical love story.

The song was picturised on one of the most talented silver screen heroes, Santosh Kumar.

This famous song is still being sung by many top-class and famous singers of today, but no one has been able to leave an impact which Sharafat Ali left on the listeners.

Another song of the same film is a semi-classical Bar bar bersain muray nain sung by Kausar Perveen and Sharafat Ali, which even surpassed the popularity of many Bollywood top hits of that era.

Both were not classical singers, but they sung it rather well.

Aamir Aqil
Lahore

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2021