Daily Times

About music scene of 1940s and 1950s, it is a general view that after KL Saigal and before Muhammad Rafi eras, Ghulam Mustafa Durrani (GM Durrani) was the very popular singer of Indian film industry. I was born after KL Saigal era. I grew up when Muhammad Rafi was in the making. So I am not really familiar with the artists that rose in their respective fields in the intervening period. I was an ardent fan of Talat Mahmudin my youth (I still am) for his songs in the films Tarana, Sangdil, Arzoo and Madhosh. I admit that at that time, I was not fully aware of GM Durrani’s contributions to Indian film music because when I grew up, he had gone into oblivion. Then to compile history of melody singers I carried out research on the singers who had contributed wholesomely to music in the subcontinent. That is how I started catching up with my long-lost years.

About GM Durrani Wikipedia says “To his credit, he tried to create his own identity as a playback singer and did not try to follow the KL Saigal style of singing. GM Durrani was notable for sad songs, romantic songs, patriotic songs, qawwalis, ghazals and bhajans. He was also one of the first Muslim singers to sing Hindu Devotionals. GM Durrani was also the most senior Punjabi singer-actor at that time”. I found his tonal qualities on the heavier side, a bit nasal at places. He did not put enough thrust in his voice on upper notes and sometimes a slight tremor erupted in his voice. Overall impact was good.

Origin:

GM Durrani was of Pashtun descent. Some other great actors of Pashtun origin who got fame in Bollywood were Prithvi Raj Kapoor and his off-shoots and Dilip Kumar who had got assimilated with other communities and had acquired a good command at Urdu as well as Hindi languages besides their own mother tongue. GM Durrani’s father’s name was Abdul Karim Durrani (Master Andalip). He was born in Peshawar and at the age of 24 went to Bollywood. The son of Peshawar GM Durrani turned out to be a great singer of Bollywood in the British era. He also acted and was a Radio broadcaster also. His spoken Urdu was polished. Though I must have listened to his songs in my childhood, they may have not left any impact on me and I have gone through his repertoire now from music archives. Famous RJ Amin Sayani said in a Radio interview that when Durrani visited his studios in 1978, his days as a singer were over. On this scenario he had quoted Ghalib ‘Jala Hei Jism Jehan Dil Bhi Jal Gaya Ho Ga/ Kuredte Ho Jo Ab Rakh Justajoo Kaya Hei’ (when body burnt, so did heart with it. So there is no fun in digging in the dust – rough translation).

Durrani was born in 1919 in Peshawar and when he turned sixteen, he moved to Bombay. He was from pure Muhammadzai Durrani family, fond of drinking milk or yogurt and not a cup of tea. When standing at a painter shop, he used to listen to songs from some other singers especially in the music of Melody Maker Rafiq Ghaznavi, which enticed him to move to Bombay to try his luck. Before going to Bombay, he spent two years with Rafiq Ghaznavi in Lahore. In Bombay when his money was dwindling he approached some film company for work where he got a role in a film or two because of his good looks. In those days actors had to sing on screen as the system of playback singing was not in vogue. He did not like this system and joined All India Radio instead and ended up as a drama actor. In this role he was widely accepted. His first love however remained that of becoming a singer. As a singer his demand still existed and in due course he got songs from music composers of caliber such as Shyam Sunder, Pandit Amar Nath, Master Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Muhammad, Anil Biswas and Shaukat Haidri. Song ‘Kar Sake Ga Na Juda Tum Ko Kabhi Hum Sei Zamana’ with Lata Mangeshkar from the film ‘Aaiye’ in the music of Shaukat Ali Nashad is a remembrance of his formative days.

Durrani’s songs:

GM Durrani’s first song that I heard was ‘Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare Kitne Meethe Kaise Pyare’ with a female voice. Sargam in female voice was filmed on a child while hero sings the song on stage. Wikipedia says “This song, sung mostly by GM Durrani, with some support by child-star Balakram was playing everywhere. When he sang this song, the listeners went crazy. This timeless melody can never be forgotten by fans of Indian Cinema”.Film was ‘Nai Kahani’ directed by D. D. Kashyap and music by Shyam Sunder. Main cast of the film was Jairaj and Rose. The theme of the film was social. It was a Prabhat Film Company Release in1943.It also paved way for beginning of a successful career for Durrani.

Song ‘Dil Kei Ujre Hue Gulshan Main Bahar Aa Jaye’ a duet is also a very catchy song. It was rendered with Nurjehan for the film ‘Mirza Saheban’ in the music of Pandit Amar Nath. He sounded disdain in his expression.Earlier his song ‘Nazar Phairo Na Hum Sei Hum Hain Tum Pei Marne Waalon Main/Hamara Naam Bhi Likh Do Muhabbat Karne Walon Main’ with Shamshad Begum in Naushad Ali’s film ‘Deedar’ had been well received. It was filmed on Ashok Kumar and Nargis and was still fresh in filmgoers’ minds. A critic Adi Katrak had commented that in this song Nargis looked gorgeous in a dazzling western outfit as beautiful as any Hollywood beauty. She had the most beautiful profile and slim athletic body. In all her movies though much younger to the established heroes like Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, she was top billed in Deedar. Her name was above the title. Such was her pull at the box office hardly fortwenty years old. This was a Nitin Bose directed film with Dilip Kumar also playing a major role. Shakeel Bidayuni was lyricist.

Stint at Radio, meeting mentor Suhrab Modi and marriage:

At Radio, G. M. Durrani wanted music to fill his life also, so whenever some great actors or singers came he would sit with them with a Tanpura along with a couple of his colleagues, one among this troika was Ustad Allah Rakha, who later made a name as the great Tabla maestro. This group used to repeat a line or two with innovative taans and murkis with a Qawwal. Due to this reason, that Qawwal became popular and started getting four bookings instead of one. Ustad Allah Rakha also used to compose music by the name A. R. Qureshi. In his music, Durrani sang a very popular song ‘Ni Sa Ga Ma Pa’ from the film ‘Sabaq’. It had funny lyrics by D. N. Madhok. Then Sohrab Modi’s company Minerva Monotone gave him job in 1935 for Rs. 30/-. Modi experimented by recording his song on soundtrack. Durrani encouraged him to work hard in singing. He started getting invitations to sings songs from Parsi families. They thought that Modi had hired a singer. It was 1943 now and he bagged the song ‘Neend Hamari’ as reiterated above composed by music composer Shyam Sunder. During these days Naushad Ali asked GM Durrani to hum a few lines which another singer Shakir could not for a chorus song in a film namely ‘Darshan’. The other actors cum singers were Ghosh, Prem Adeeb, and Jyoti. People liked his performance. Jyoti’s actual name was Sitara Begum. They fell in love and got married Jyoti was the younger sister of actress Wahidan, who acted in many movies, including Alibaba. Wahidan’s daughter Nimmi was to become a big actress in the 1950s too.

Durrani’s successful era lasted from 1943 to 1951. Then he started getting faded away.

Published in Daily Times, July 17^th 2018.