Daily Times

I have already mentioned Munir Hussain’s songs for composer and director Nisar Bazmi’s film ‘Laila Majnu’.

Another song called “Paseena Poonchiye” with singer Ahmad Rushdi got noticed as it was filmed on comedian and actor Munawar Zarif and his brother Rasheed Zarif for the film ‘Namak Haraam’. Munir Hussain’s Punjabi films that year were ‘Sohna Mukhra’ and ‘Saiyon Ni Mera Mahi’. During this span of time, singer A Nayyar entered Lollywood, giving competition to Hussain. The year 1975 was the last for Hussain with Nisar Bazmi’s song “Dildara Tera Ik Ishara” with Mala picturised on Naghma and Habib. Another male voice Ghulam Abbas entered Lollywood that year as well.

In the subsequent years, Hussain was not treated well by music composers. He was asked to sing certain difficult phrases in qawwalis which singer Mehdi Hassan could not, and that too on higher notes. For example, the same music composer A Hameed who had given maximum songs to Hussain earlier now imparted partial treatment in a qawwali “Shama Se Kehta Tha Parwana” for the film ‘Suraiya Bhopali’ in which the main singers were Mehdi Hassan and Naheed Akhtar. Actor and producer Waheed Murad had to lip-synch two singers at a time. It was funny! Until 1979, Hussain bagged only one or two songs per year. During the 1990s, Hussain got only five songs. He became involved with PTV but that too in Rafique Ahmad Warraich’s programmes or by rendering non-film songs.

I can quote more songs rendered by Hussain but shall give some names of the movies he sang for. These were ‘Saat Lakh’, ‘Ishq-e-Laila’, ‘Nooraan’, ‘Heer’, ‘Mukhrra’, ‘Naya Zamana’, ‘Bodi Shah’, ‘Alam Ara’, ‘Bacha Jamora’, ‘Naji’, ‘Jhoomar’, ‘Sathi’, ‘Shama’, ‘Sohni Kumharan’, ‘Sache Moti’, ‘Gulfam’, ‘Gulbadan’, ‘Salma’, ‘Anchal’, ‘Shaheed’, ‘Aulad’, ‘Daaman’, ‘Choorriyan’ and ‘Aashiyana’. It has been quoted by some critics that when singer Salim Raza and Hussain were touching the heights of success, Hassan, a struggling artist at that time even rendered a chorus behind Hussain. Despite having a successful career, his wife complained to me on telephone of him leaving no monetary help for his family when he died on September 27, 1995.