Daily Times

A very talented lot related to film industry migrated from India to Pakistan in or around 1947 when Pakistan appeared on the world map.

Notable among them were producer/director Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, his wife singer/actress Nurjehan, director Zia Sarhadi, classical singer Malika-e-Mausiqui Roshan Ara Begum, actress Mumtaz Shanti, Director Nazir Ahmad Khan, actress Sworen Lata, music director Ghulam Ahmad Chishti, singer/producer/actress Gohar Mamajiwala. Gohar started her career at the age of sixteen with the film Fortune and the Fools directed by Kanjibhai Rathor and the role of the hero was portrayed by Khalil and the film was produced by Kohinoor Films and the film was a hit, actress Patience Cooper, actress Khurshid Bano, singer Malika Pukhraj, actor Ghulam Muhammad, actor Nasir Khan/brother of Dilip Kumar, music composers Nisar Bazmi and Shaukat Ali Nashaad and actor Allauddin to name a few. According to blog ‘The Golden Era of Bollywood’, ‘the Partition affected film production and many great performers had to make choices about their location’.

Coming to the early career of actor Allauddin, the 1945 film Laila Majnu’s cast included Nazir, Sawarn Lata, Anita Sharma, Rajrani, KN Singh, Khalil, Gope, M Ismail, Maqbool and Allauddin. The film was directed by GB Nayyar and S Nazir. Singers of the film were Mohammad Rafi and SD Batish, Lyricist was TanvIr Naqvi and Music Director Gobindram and Rafiq Ghaznavi. Laila Majnu was a super hit film but Allauddin’s names were not mentioned in publicity and booklist.

The above referred blog further adds ‘Partition of the subcontinent had its negative impact on film industry by destabilizing two major film centers of undivided India; Bombay and Lahore. Similarly, prominent Indian filmmakers such as Gulzar and Govind Nihalani, BR Chopra and his brother Yash Chopra migrated to India. The migrations caused a great deal of professional insecurity in the film industries, especially in India for those Muslims who chose to stay back. Ian Talbot notes that even in secular India the Muslim actors felt apprehensive of the audience’s acceptance and therefore functioned with Hindu names. After the partition in 1947, prominent music directors like Master Ghulam Haider, Khwaja Khursheed Anwar, Feroze Nizami, Rafique Ghaznavi, Master Inayat Hussain migrated to Pakistan. Most of them were born or brought up in western part of Punjab of undivided India which became a part of Pakistan. So rather than calling the process as migration, they actually returned to their original places of birth’. Melody Maker Khayyam opted to stay in Bombay though his family had settled in Lahore after migrating from their village Rahon in East Punjab.

Some actors left a deep impact on cine goers by their total command over the roles they were offered in India and later in Pakistan. Allauddin was one of them. His acting span was spread over four decades. He died on May 13, 1983 at the age of 63. He was born in Rawalpindi on February 2, 1920. He was from a Kashmiri family and his father Ferozuddin Butt was from one of the reputed middle class families of Rawalpindi. Allauddin acquired his early education from a Government School in Rawalpindi. Allauddin bore seven children from his marriage outside film industry; three sons and four daughters. Unfortunately, he lost two sons in an accident, one son died in coma. His daughters are married. He should have bagged President of Pakistan’s civil award Pride of Performance but I think he did not believe in lobbying in the concerned quarters. However, he bagged seven Nigar Awards in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1968, 1980. He also received Special Nigar Award for the film Badnaam. His elder brother Riaz Ahmad Raju made his presence felt as a director of successful Pakistani films from 1960 to 1980s.

Allauddin wanted initially to become a singer initially but not succeeding settled as an actor. To learn music, Allauddin approached Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, famous Tabla Player for tutelege. Allah Rakha Qureshi was also a music composer. Talat Mahmud’s song ‘Dil Matwala Lakh Sambhala’ for Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis starrer 1952 film ‘Bewafa’ became popular. Lata also rendered this song. This is a rare song by Talat Mahmud filmed on Raj Kapoor. Another song ‘Karta Hei Aik Ravi’ telling the story of the Holy month of Ramzan is sung by Rafi Saheb for the historical film ‘Alam Ara’ in A. R. Qureshi’s composition. Director A. R. Kardar introduced Allauddin to film personalities in Bombay. Earlier in Lahore before Pakistan came into being, he learnt music from a well-known musician of that time Pandit Gobindram.

The above referred blog further adds, ‘Partition of the subcontinent had its negative impact on the film industry as it destabilised two major films that centred on undivided India; Bombay and Lahore’

Despite all these efforts, life in Indian filmdom did not bring any luck to Allauddin. The least he got was a job as a chorus singer but his thirst for knowledge always brought him close to his teacher, Ustad AR Qureshi. It was in 1940 Allauddin got a break when director-producer Mohin Bhunani, gave him a chance in his social film ‘Prem Nagar’. One of the songs of the film was ‘Mat Bolo Bahar Kei Batiya, Daharak Gai Mohri Chattiya’. Allauddin’s voice echoed the air but in a chorus song. It was for the first time also, he appeared on the big screen, singing. The song was penned by DN Madhuk and Naushad Ali gave its music. This song also happened to be Naushad Ali’s first film song. Thus ‘Prem Nagar’ could be said to be Allauddin’s first film as an extra singer-cum-actor.

1941 was a lucky year for music director Khwaja Khursheed Anwar and actor Allauddin. Nishat Productions released a Punjabi film ‘Kurmai’ and Khwaja Khursheed Anwar composed songs. Let us know a little more about this movie. Allauddin was given a solo song. Allauddin also worked as a guest actor on the request of producer JK Nanda. Poet for the songs was DN Madhok, story and dialogues. Dwarkadheesh wrote the screenplay while sound recording was done by PN Arora. S Yousufi and AK Nanda did the editing and the caretaking producer was AR Kardar. Lead role in the film was given to Wasti and his co-stars were Jagdish Sethi, Radha Rani, Jeevan, Shanti, A Shah, Shakir, Balo Nazir Bedi and Watsila Khatmakir. Lyrics of the song filmed on Allauddin were ‘Jay Main Jandaia Nu Lananda Jan Ghaman Dei Wich Na Painda’.

Later Kardar and Director JK Nanda had a remake of the film ‘Bharati in 1954. When this film was made in Pakistan, its name was ‘Rishta’. This Punjabi film was produced by NE Akhtar and music was given by GA Chishti. AR Kardar produced a film ‘Nai Dunya’ for Circo Productions in 1942. Jairaj and Shobhna Samarth were the lead pair. Besides, Allauddin, Ramavtar, Ameer Ali and Mohan played the roles of taxi drivers. Khawaja Ahmed Abbas wrote the story.

Despite these breakthroughs Allauddin was not acknowledged much except that Kardar remembered Allauddin in the films such as Sharda and Namaste. Sharda was the first film produced and released by Kardar Productions. In 1943, three films as an actor of Alauddin were released. The first was Namaste and was directed by Babu M. Sadiq and SU Sunny. These two were among the brightest pupils of Kardar and Namaste was their first production as directors. The major roles in the film were performed by Protima Das Gupta, Jagdish Sethi, Wasti, Rajkumari Shukla, Nayampali, Misra, Shukal Meera, Ameer Ali and Allauddin.

It was Allauddin’s first film with a leading role and he acted as Deena Nath. Although the film was a super hit but Allauddin gained nothing from that role. The same year a film namely Qanoon was released and A. R. Kardar himself produced it. Its cast had Mehtab, Nirmala, Shahu Modak, A Shah, Gajanan Jagirdar, Ameer Banu, Ameer Ali, Ilyas, Badri Prasad, Ulhas and Allauddin. It was Kardar’s best social film in which he raised the voice against unbounded marriages. In this film a young girl was married to a 60-year-old rich man. Kardar in fact wanted legislation against such marriages and also to end such a tradition. Allauddin had a brief appearance in this film.

Movie ‘Sanjog’ was Allauddin’s the last film of the year 1943. Many profiles of Allauddin mention ‘Sanjog’ as his first film but that is so because of lack of information and acknowledgements on his works prior to the creation of Pakistan. In this movie, Allauddin played a role of a doctor. This was a comedy film and was also a super hit film.

In 1944, Allauddin’s two films were released. His first film of the year was ‘Geet’ also produced by Mian Kardar and directed by SU Sunny. In this film Allauddin played a role of stage manager and also sang a humorous song. Despite a musical film, Geet was a flop. The same year, Allauddin worked in another film ‘Pehlay Aap’. This production of Kardar was also a flop but Allauddin sang two songs along with legend Mohammad Rafi and Sheyam Kumar. Movie ‘Pehlay Aap’ was Allauddin’s last film with Kardar Production. The next year Allauddin’s worked in only one film ‘Wamiq Azra’. In this film, Allauddin played a leading role. Nazir played the role of Wamiq and Sworen Lata played the role of Azra. This movie was also a super hit but in its advertisements Allauddin’s name was missing. Nazir Ahmed Khan hired Allauddin in his production house, Hind Production, on Rs 500 salary per month. For Hind Production, Allauddin’s first film was Laila Majnu released in 1945. In this film, Allauddin was a story-teller while moving in a caravan in a desert towards a place where Laila and Majnu met for eternity. In this movie a chorus was also filmed on Allauddin and was sung by Zohra Bai and Khan Mastana; which was ‘Ja Raha Hai Ya Carwan Ya Zindigay Ka Carvan’. Munshi Dil after partition came to Pakistan he remade this film by the name of ‘Azra’ in which Neelo played a role of Azra and Ijaz played the role of Wamiq. M. Ismail who happened to be the villain in Indian movie Wamiq Azra played the same role on its Pakistani version while Allauddin did the same role in Azra. This movie had beautiful music by Master Inayat Hussain with at least two hit songs, Nurjehan’s ‘Kutch Bhi Na Kaha Aur Keh Bhi Gaye’ and Salim Raza’s ‘Jaan-e-Baharaan’. Allauddin with his attachment with Nazir’s Hind Production did another three films the following year. After partition, Yadgar was his first film in 1947 in which he had a leading role of a villain with the support of his close friend composer Tanvir Naqvi. But Nazir never mentioned his name in the characters’ list and even Director Sharif Nayyar’s name was also not given anywhere.

The cast of Sharif Nayyar’s film had Jatoi, Nazir, M. Ismail, Agha Jan, Gulab, Kailash, Riaz, Malik Amin, Aziz Minai, Tasneem and Gulzar. This was a successful release but in this film too Allauddin did not have any gain because as usual his name was not given in the publicity booklist. The same year another film by the name of Malika was released and director and Nazir was its star cast included Shobhna Samarth, Reyaz, Mumtaz, Malik Amin and Ilyas Kashmiri, commonly known as Taya Jee. In this film too Allauddin played a role of a villain while Malik Amin was a comedian. Lyricist and musician was Tanveer and music director was AR Qureshi. This film was released during partition which was the major cause of its failure. Even in this film, Allauddin was not mentioned in the publicity booklist. No one knows the reason why Nazir did not give Allauddin’s name in his produced films.

Abida, was the last film, Allauddin has worked for with Hind Production. In this 1947 year’s production, the lead role was performed by Sworen Lata in a very professional manner. Allauddin gave music to a film ‘Ya Hai Duniya’ in 1948. This film was produced against imperialistic system, which was later banned. Tanveer composed all its songs and Allauddin directed its music with a fictitious name of Peyami.

This film was made in 1948 with Nargis and Dilip Kumar in lead roles. Naushad’s music starts with a beautiful song ‘Dharti Ko Akash Pukare Aa Ja Aa Jaa Prem Duare Aana Hi Ho Ga’ rendered by Shamshad Begum as the title song. The best part of the film is that the titles include Allauddin’s name. He was just 24 then. The first song is by Muhammad Rafi ‘Yei Zindigi Kei Mele’. It appears when a convict Dilip Kumar is released from Jail and looks at the world with a new eye. Allauddin played the role of a school master and father of Nargis, the heroine in the film.

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