Amir Khusro, the 13th century musician, poet and Sufi saint, whose father was a Persian and mother an Indian, couldn’t have imagined that qawwali, a genre in music believed to have been innovated by him, would in a few hundred years become the rage as it has been in the last century or so, thanks to film music. Also, he couldn’t have thought that the theme of the qawwalis would ‘stoop to conquer’. In other words, the lyrical content would reference plain earthly romance more than saintly love.
Qawwali has over the centuries branched out from shrines to public places and more recently replenished film music. The eminent musicologist Kumar Prasad Mukherjee maintains that it was qawwali that gave birth to the singing of khayal gayeki. The viewpoint stands to reason for most qawwalis are based on ragas.
Another point worth remembering is that in qawwalis rhythm has an edge over melody because percussion instruments such as dholak and tabla support the voices, and in most cases vigorous clapping by the qawwals sitting with the main singers, provide rhythmic support. Another instrument that plays a key role in live performances or life-like performance in movies is the harmonium. Sometimes there are more than one.
In the final feature on film music for Icon, Asif Noorani discusses the genre of film qawwali, which invigorated movies even as the form untethered itself from being a purely saintly form of devotional music
Until seven decades ago, qawwali was an all-male affair but in the world of movies the first qawwali to hit the jackpot was actually an all-female affair. Composed by Hafeez Khan and written by Nakhshab for Zeenat (1945) ‘Aahen na bhari, shikwe na kiye, kuchh bhi na zubaan se kaam liya’ was sung by Noor Jahan, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Kalyani and chorus girls.
Though no patch on the Zeenat number, another qawwali to catch the listeners’ attention was from Bazaar (1949) ‘Zara sun lo hum apne pyar ka afsana kehte hain’. Written by Qamar Jalalabadi and composed by the duo Husnlal-Bhagatram, the song was recorded in the voices of an established singer, Raj Kumari, and the emerging numero uno Lata Mangeshkar. They were supported by female qawwals.
Qawwalis in earlier films quite often feature a muqabla (contest) between groups, often placing men and women on each side, but there are also all-female contestants. The most subtly presented competition was from Mughal-i-Azam (1960), ‘Teri mehfil mein qismet aazma kar hum bhi dekhenge’ between an innocent beauty Anarkali (Madhubala) and a makeup-aided charmer Bahar (Nigar Sultana), aided by Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum. The lone audience is Prince Saleem (Dilip Kumar), whose attention the two young ladies are vying for. Mooseeqar Azam Naushad set the highly meaningful lyrics of Shakeel Badayuni to music in the strains of Raga Jaijaywanti, thereby achieving an enchanting result.
A Pakistani all-female qawwali, vocalised by Naseem Begum and Mala — ‘Kya ada-i-dilbari hai ya nigah-i-naz hai/ Teer mere dil mein hai aur pardey mein teer-andaz hai’ for Mehtab (1962) is unfortunately not available on YouTube, nor do music shops have any trace of the scintillating number. It was penned by Shabab Kiranvi and set to music by Manzoor-Ashraf. Ironically, the movie is now remembered only for the Ahmed Rushdi ditty for kids ‘Gol gappey wala aaya’.
One of the most popular qawwalis to grace the Pakistani screen in the ’60s was from Tauba (1964) — ‘Meri tauba tauba’. Written by veteran Fayyaz Hashmi and composed by A. Hameed, it was picturised on a repentant ageing actor called Kumar, who had earlier portrayed a sculptor in Mughal-i-Azam before he shifted to Pakistan. It is unfortunately not to be seen on YouTube and if, by a stroke of bad luck, you type ‘Meri tauba tauba’, a badly plagiarised number with poor filming from a movie called ‘Badmash Thug’ will appear on your computer screen. You will be reminded of the famous Urdu saying ‘Naqal ke liye bhi aqal chahiye’ (You need common sense even for copying something).
Another devotional qawwali which merits a mention, ‘Bhar do jholi meri ya Mohammad’ was recorded for Bin Badal Barsaat (1975). Written by Tasleem Fazli and composed by Shamim Nazli, it was recorded in the voices of the Sabri Brothers, who later included the number in their public performances. Years later, much to the chagrin of the surviving original singers and their heirs, the qawwali with the opening lines was included in the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijan (2015). It was recorded in the voice of Adnan Sami Khan, who was also seen on the screen as the leading performer.