Daily Times

My memories of actress Rani date back to the time when she had a petite physique, soft dialogue delivery and facial beauty.

Initially dubbed as a failed star, Rani proved herself to be the ultimate superstar during the golden era of Pakistani cinema. She was a lady known for her expressive eyes, sensuous curves and superb dancing skills.

Rani acted well in Pakistani film ‘Umrao Jan Ada’ despite that later Rekha’s originality as Umrao in Muzaffar Ahmad’s Indian version still haunts me. Pakistani film was a 1972 film, released on December 29, directed by Hassan Tariq who was largely responsible for making Rani a successful heroine. Previously her films were not clicking at box office. The other cast comprised Shahid, Rangeela, Zammurad, Mumtaz, Nayyar Sultana, Allauddin, Talish, Nahid Siddiqui, Tammana, Nasira, Albela and Kemal Irani. Nisar Bazmi’s eight songs rocked; sung by Runa Laila except the climax song ‘Jo Bacha Tha Woh Lutane Kei Liye Aaei Hain’ by Nurjehan. Lyrics were penned by Saif uddin Saif. Of course the camera work was done by Nabi Ahmad. So, all experts in their respective fields gathered to make this film a success. Runa Laila’s songs filmed on Rani were ‘Aap Farmayen, Kya Khariden Gay’, ‘Hamaray Samnay Aa Kar Khuda Ki Shaan Baithay Hayn’ (with Rushdi), ‘Hathon Mein Kangna, Jhanjar Meray Paon Mein’, ‘Jhoomain, Kabhi Nachain, Kabhi Gaein Khushi Say’, ‘Katey Na Kattay Ray, Ratian, Sayyan Intezar Mein’, ‘Maney Na Bairi Balma, Mora Mann Tarpaye’ (with Irene Parveen), and ‘Na Janay Kis Liye Ham Par Qayyamat Dhai Jati Hay’. The film was based on Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s 1905 novel of the same name.

As per Wikipedia, the story of the film is that Umrao Jaan is born as Amiran to a modest family in Faizabad, India. After the criminal Dilawar Khan is released from jail he decides to get revenge as her father had earlier testified against him in court. Khan kidnaps Amiran and decides to sell her in Lucknow. She is imprisoned with another girl, Ram Dai, but the two are separated when Dilawar Khan takes her to Lucknow. There, she is sold for measly150 rupees to Khanum Jaan, the head tawaif of a kotha. She is renamed Umrao and begins to study classical music and dance. Together with the other apprentice tawaif and Gauhar Mirza, the mischievous illegitimate son of a local Nawab, she is taught to read and write in both Urdu and Persian. As Umrao grows up, she is surrounded by a culture of luxury, music and poetry. She eventually gains her first client, (earning her the suffix of jaan) but prefers the impoverished Gauhar Mirza,as her friend.

Umrao Jaan attracts the handsome and wealthy Nawab Sultan. The couple fall in love, but after a jealous customer tries to start a fight with Nawab Sultan, he shoots him and the jealous customer Zabardast Khan dies. He no longer comes to the kotha and Umrao Jaan must meet him secretly, by the help of Gauhar Mirza. As Umrao Jaan continues to see Nawab Sultan and also serve other clients, she supports Gauhar Mirza with her earnings. A new client, the mysterious Faiz Ali, showers Umrao Jaan with jewels and gold, but warns her not to tell anyone about his gifts. When he invites her to travel to Farrukhabad, Khanum Jaan refuses, so Umrao Jaan had to run away. On the way to Farrukhabad, they are attacked by soldiers and Umrao Jaan discovers that Faiz is a dacoit and all of his gifts have been stolen goods. Faiz Ali escapes with his brother Fazl Ali and she is imprisoned, but luckily one of the tawaif from Khanum Jaan’s kotha is in the service of the Raja whose soldiers arrested her, so Umrao Jaan is freed. As soon as she leaves the Raja’s court, Faiz Ali finds her and gets her to come with him. He is soon captured and Umrao Jaan, reluctant to return to Khanum Jaan, sets up as a tawaif in Kanpur. While she is performing in the house of a kindly Begum, armed bandits led by Fazl Ali try to rob the house, but leave when they see that Umrao Jaan is working there. Then Gauhar Mirza comes to Kanpur and she decides to return to the kotha.

Umrao Jaan performs at the court of Wajid Ali Shah until the Siege of Lucknow forces her to flee the city for Faizabad. There she finds her real mother, but is threatened by her brother who considers her a disgrace and believes she would be better off dead. Devastated, Umrao Jaan returns to Lucknow now that the mutiny is over. She meets the Begum from Kanpur again in Lucknow and discovers that she is actually Ram Dai. By a strange twist of fate Ram Dai was sold to the mother of Nawab Sultan and the two are now married. Another ghost of Umrao Jaan’s past is put to rest when Dilawar Khan is arrested and hung for robbery. With her earnings and the gold that Faiz Ali gave her, she is able to live comfortably and eventually retires from her life as a tawaif. She mostly sings her own poetry. Rani has portrayed this role admirably well.

Rani was born on December 08, 1946. Her name was Nasira Sarfraz. She belonged to Mozang Area, Lahoreand was born in an Arain family. Her father was driver for Mukhtar Begum, a renowned actress cum singer and elder sister of singer Farida Khanum. She wed of Agha Hashar Kashmiri, a well-known Urdu drama writer. Mukhtar Begum took over Rani to look after her for proper nurturing.

Before writing on Rani we must know the background of her mentor Mukhtar Begum. In my book ‘Melody Makers’ I have written, ‘She is known to have encouraged Nurjehan when she was a child to continue acting and singing. She not only trained her own younger sister Farida Khanum but also another Pakistani singer Naseem Begum. Mukhtar Begum was also the guardian of Pakistani actress Rani. Mukhtar Begum’s contributions to Indian Filmdom as an actress and a classical singer are evident from her work in the decade of 1930s. She started acting first on Stage. Her contributions in film industry from 1932 to 1940 can be seen from her acting in the films ‘Ali Baba Aur Chalees Chor’ (1932 – co-stars Jehan Ara Kajjan, Nawab and Patience Cooper), ‘Chatra Bakavli’ (1932 – co-stars Jehan Ara Kajjan, Master Nisar and patience Cooper), ‘Hathili Dulhan’ (1932 – co-stars Patience Cooper, Abbas, Lakshmi, Khurshid and Leela), ‘Indra Sabha’ (1932 – co-stars Master Nisar, Jehan Ara Kajjan and A. R. Kabili), ‘Hindustan’ (1932 – co-stars Narmada Shankar and Miss Rose), ‘Krishna Kant Ki Wasiyat’ (1932 – co-stars Jehan Ara Kajjan, Master Nisar and A. R. Kabili) and ‘Muflis Ashiq’ (1932 – co-stars Khurshid, Sheela, Withal Das Panjothia). All these films were directed by Madan. In 1932 director Abdur Rehman Kabuli made a movie ‘Sharvan Kumar’ with Mukhtar Begum with co-stars Abdur Rehman Kabuli, Afandi and Panna Rani. In 1933, Mukhtar Begum’s husband Agha Hashr Kashmiri directed two movies with her namely ‘Ankh Ka Nasha’ and ‘Chantamini’. The same year A. R. Kardar took Anwari Begum, Ali Athar, Mazhar Khan and Bachan with Mukhtar Begum to make a movie ‘Aurat Ka Pyar’. In 1933, Mukhtar Begum was part of the movie ‘Nala Darmayanti’ directed by Agha Hashr Kashmiri. Her co-stars were Krishen Chander Dey and Akhtari Muradabadi. She also worked in a movie ‘Ramayan’ again directed by her husband with co-stars Indubala, Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Leela. There was only one movie ‘Seeta’ of Mukhtar Begum directed by Sohrab Keerwala in 1934. Her co-stars were Dheeraj Bhattachaya, Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Gul Hameed. The same director came out with another movie ‘Dil Ki Pyas’ in1935. Her co-stars were Suraj Ram, Jehan Ara Kajjan, Kapoor and Master Gamma. Director Roshan Lal Shorey’s movie ‘Majnu’ was released in 1935 with Mukhtar and her co-stars Zahoor Shah and Hukam Singh. Then in 1936, Mukhtar Begum appeared with Bhai Desa, Haseena, Pran Shankar and Safdar in the movie ‘Prem Ki Aag’ directed by M. L. Kapoor. Mukhtar’s last movie was ‘Matwali Meera’ directed by Prafulla Roy with co-stars Sultana Bano, Ranjit Kumari, Kala and Fida Hussain. She also composed music for this movie ‘Prem Ki Aag’ in 1936. She died on February 25, 1982′.

The story of the film is that Umrao Jaan is born as Amiran to a modest family in Faizabad, India. After the criminal Dilawar Khan is released from jail he decides to get revenge as her father had earlier testified against him in court. Khan kidnaps Amiran and decides to sell her in Lucknow

After the creation of Pakistan, Mukhtar Begum got settled in Karachi and wanted Rani to follow her as a singer. Rani was not interested and also it was found that her voice was not suitable to bea singer. She was interested dancing and acting instead. Mukhtar Begum suggested her stage/film name as Rani. It also goes to the credit of Mukhtar Begum that she also had given Nurjehan her screen name from her original name Allah Wasai.

It was Mukhtar Begum who recommended nineteen year old Nasira to the seasoned film director, Anwar Kamal Pasha for a break in films. Pasha changed Nasira’s name to Rani.Rani bagged a minor role of a dancer in his film ‘Mehboob’ in 1961. It was thus, Rani Mukhtar’sdebut film. Later, she took off the word ‘Mukhtar’ from her name and was content with the name Rani. From 1961 to 1964, Rani worked in many movies. With the exception of a few films, the rest were failures. During those days, there were rumors circulating about Rani that she was an average actress and was unlucky as well. Finally breakthrough came and the film ‘Saaz Aur Aawaaz’ was Rani’s first film in which she appeared as the lead lady opposite Waheed Murad. The movie was a success. It was directed by Usman Qasim, released on April 30, 1965. Habib also acted in this film. The masterpieces began to flow in the next two decades.

Expert film director, Hassan Tariq, was determined to take a chance with Rani, despite her past failures. He worked zealously with Rani and the rest of the film crew and came out with a mega hit movie, ‘Dewar Bhabi’, on May 5, 1967, starring Rani, Waheed Murad, Santosh Kumar and Sabiha Khanum.This film’sstatus was Golden jubilee. Following the release of ‘Dewar Bhabi’, Rani became the ‘super- star’, that was always there, but unknown to most others. Her films were ‘Ik Tera Sahara’ in 1963, ‘Choti Behen’ in 1964, ‘Nache Nagin Baaje Been’ and ‘Akhri Station’ in 1965, ‘Khalifa’, “Insaan’ and ‘Goonga’ in 1966, ‘Nadira’, ‘Berehem’ and ‘Sitamgar’ in 1966. None of these films were lucky for Rani. Movies ‘Dara’, ‘Commander’, ‘Zalim’ and ‘Chan Makhna’ came in 1968. All I remember is a very popular song ‘Jan-e-Mun Itna Bata Do’ sung by Runa Laila and composed by Master Abdullah for the film ‘Commander’.He bagged the best music director Nigar Award for this Muzaffar Adeeb, Sabiha, Santosh, Rani-starrer film. 1963 film ‘Ik Tera Sahara’ was Darpan and Shamim Ara starrer film with the famous songs ‘Aei Dil Kisi Ki Yaad Main’ by Nasim Bagum and Salim Raza rendered separately composed by Master Inayat Hussain.Another popular song was ‘Ghanghor Ghata Lehrai Hei’ by Naseem Begum. It was a silver jubilee film. Rani was in support role.

This black & white golden jubilee film was directed by Kifayat Hussain Bhatti popularly known as actor Kaifi who was the younger brother of Inayat Hussain Bhatti. The latter was in the male lead in this film. Story was written by Sheikh Iqbal, basically a Radio voice and was husband of character actress Rekha. Rani’s name appeared after the names of Asad Bukhari, Firdaus, Sultan Rahi, Salma Mumtaz and Rangeela in the titles. The names of Habib, Saloni, Munawar Zarif, Sudhir and Sawan followed after her name. This film is known by the song ‘Chan Mere Makhana Kei Hans Kei Ik Pal Aider Takna’ rendered by Inayat Hussain Bhatti. The female sad version was sung by Mala filmed on Rani. Baba G. A. Chishti composed the lyrics of Hazeen Qadri. This song was popularized by Shazia Manzoor many years thereafter. As per Wikipedia and Bhattis’s son actor Waseem Abbas who was the producer of this film also, Bhatti’s second film as a producer was ‘Moonh Zor’ (1965). Unfortunately it was a flop. His third film ‘Chann Makhna’ (1968) in which he played the lead role proved to be a block buster at the box office and received the Nigar Award as the best picture of 1968. This was followed by a string of hit movies. The films transformed Bhatti into a superstar actor of the Punjabi movies.

Rani’s movies in 1969-1970 were ‘Kangan’, Ghabru Put Punjab Da’, ‘Kochwan’, ‘Akhri Chattan’, ‘Chan Sajna’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Rub Di Shan’ and ‘Anjuman’.

According to Wikipedia, the film is a tragedy based on a tawaif (courtesan) ‘Anjuman’ played by Rani,who flirts with the emotions of a wealthy Nawab Wahahat Ali (Santosh Kumar) and later falls in love with his younger brother Nawab Asif Ali played by Waheed Murad. (This film was a produced in the heydays of Waheed Murad and was a big breakthrough for Rani). In order to save his elder brother’s marriage, Asif decides to frequently visit Anjuman’s “kotha” in an “exchange” demanded by Anjuman, although Asif being in love with another girl Nudrat (played by Deeba).Noorulain Zartaj (Sabiha Khanum),wife of Nawab Wajahat Ali, eventually implores Anjuman to forsake her own love so that Asif can live happily. At the end, Anjuman has to face a fate worse than death, where she is invited to sing at the wedding of her lover. Lovelorn and disappointed Anjuman offers a woeful song, as she has swallowed poison, and dies at the feet of her lover.

Despite that this film was released during the turmoil of 1971 War it did roaring business. Director by Hassan Tariq, songs by Runa Laila, music by Nisar Bazmi and excellent dancing and acting by Raniwere the factors behind the success of this film. The climax song ‘Izhar Bhi Mushkil Hei’ rendered by Nurjehan and danced by Rani and on Runa Laila’s songs ‘Aap Dil Ki Anjuman Main’ and ‘Dil Dharke Main Tum Sei’ are excellent. Ahmad Rushdi’s song ‘Bhabi O Meri Bhabi’ is even remembered today. Released on July 31, 1970, it ran for 81 weeks in Karachi getting status of Platinum Jubilee.

Rani knew the art of filming a song especially a dance sequence filmed on the backdrop of a tuwaif (courtesan). All one need to do is watch her dance on the songs ‘Izhar Bhi Mushkil Hei’ from ‘Anjuman’ in which she dances in front of Waheed Murad after taking poison; a sacrifice to save his marriage with Deeba with her famous dialogue ‘Uff Allah Hum Tau Kutch Keh Bhi Nahi Sakte’. The second example is that if filming of the song ‘Jo Bacha Tha Woh Lutane Kei Liye Aaye Hain’ from ‘Umrao Jan Ada’. Her expressions of physical and mental turmoil are visible on her facial expressions and in her dancing movements when Rangeela brings her baby in front of her. Shahid and father Talish remain stern faced. She dances on anklet beads with her feet full of blood.

This film is another milestone in Rani’s career starring Shahid, Rangeela, Aslam Parvez and Lehri with Rani. It was released on November 20, 1971. It was again a producer/director Hassan Tariq’s venture with lyrics by Saifuddin Saif and Masroor Anwar. This film’s song ‘Laga Hei Misr Ka Bazaar’ in the voices of Mehdi Hassan and Nurjehan separately is a great hit. Nisar Bazmi gave music with rich orchestra which was again instrumental in this movie’s success with Rani’s acting. It has been reported that the producers of this film were asked to change a reference to Egypt because it might prove detrimental to diplomatic relations with that country. While the line Laga Hai Misr Ka Bazaar Daikho changed to Laga Hai Husn Ka Bazaar Daikho in the movie soundtrack, audio- recordings of the film song had already sold in good numbers. It is filmed on Rani but this time she does not dance, Aaliya does so with Aslam Parvez in a Club sequence.

The writer is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com