It is very difficult to discover melodious singers. In my musical journey, one such singer that I came across was Munir Hussain, a man with a beautiful voice who had a little tremor in it, reminiscent to singer Talat Mahmood. Both had a remarkable gift of singing difficult songs with relative ease. Singer Salim Raza and Munir Hussain ruled the Pakistani film industry’s music scene in the 1950s until mid-1960s. As a general rule, my sensitivities are always linked with a song for a particular singer as my first impression. As luck would have it, both singers are remembered for Raag Bageshree based songs; Munir for the melody “Qaraar Lootne Waley” from film ‘Saat Laakh’ penned by Saifuddin Saif and music by Rasheed Attre, and Talat Mahmood singing, “Hum Se Aya Na Gya” from film ‘Daikh Kabira Roya’ with music by Madan Mohan. The songs have been such beautifully-composed that I don’t know who to credit them for. Right from the singers to the respective music composers as well as the poets/lyricists have created these everlasting melodies. I think it is the combination that did it all. To my utter surprise, Munir’s song was banned by Radio Pakistan for many years as it comprised lyrics of ill-will in frustration for the beloved but in a sophisticated manner. Santosh Kumar and Sabiha Khanum’s unrest was beautifully picturised in this song by Saif Sahib. Munir’s versatility got established when this song went on air. During his film career as a background singer, Munir sung about 217 songs for 163 Urdu and Punjabi films. He died on September 27, 1995. His singing career was spread over a span of 38 years. Although Munir belonged to family which had a background in music with Attre as his maternal uncle and Safdar Hussain as his maternal cousin; all from Rubabi clan, he later took inspiration from other established singers, namely A Hameed.
I shall now track his singing career through his songs which have been quite popular. The first one is a duet with Noor Jahan – “Ik Cheez Gawachi Dil Kolon” from the Punjabi film ‘Nooraan’. It is a beautiful-sad melody. This film was produced by JC Anand and its songs were penned by Hazeen Qadri. The film was released on May 30, 1957. The support cast comprised Zeenat, Nazar, Salim Raza, Rakhshi, Maya Devi and Ajmal and its music was given by Safdar Hussain. Safdar was by now an already-established music composer by giving music to the films ‘Heer’ and ‘Ishq-e-Laila’. Although Munir had received popularity from his movie ‘Saat Lakh’ but technically speaking, ‘Nooran’ was his first movie. Some of the film’s songs are “Tere Bolne Te Merian Ne Bullian”, “Vekheya Howe Ni Kisse Takeya Howe”, “Panchi Te Pardesi, Aa Kei Tur Jande”, “Phirni Aan Main Labdhi”, “Dachi Waleya Le Chal Naal Ve”, “Tere Ishq Nachaya Kar Ke Thaiya Thaiya” and “Kadi Aa Vei Dilbara Waasta Ei” and “Ik Pardesi Ik Mutiar”.
The next movie I would like to mention is Santosh Kumar-Sabiha Khanum’s Punjabi film ‘Mukhra’ with music by Attre. The song “Dila Thehr Ja Yaar Da Nazara Lende” is a superb song, rendered both by Munir and Zubeda Khanum separately. This movie was released on June 28, 1958. This film was directed by Jaffar Malik with support cast comprising Allauddin, Himaliya Wala, Darpan, Ilyas Kashmiri, Diljit Mirza, Nayyar Sultana, Ghulam Muhammad, Nazar and Asha Posley; a huge cast of that time. The screenplay was written by Baba Alam Siyahposh. It was a Crescent Film presentation. Produced by Kumar, his brother S Suleman was the assistant director. This song enhanced the status of Munir as a singer of romantic songs.
The next song that keeps Munir alive as a singer even today is a duet “Wanjli Walerya” with Madam Noor Jahan, composed by renowned music composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar for the movie ‘Heer Ranjha’ released on June 19, 1970. This film was directed by Masood Parvez. The song’s lyrics were by Ahmad Rahi and the movie was produced by actor Ejaz and Parvez. The singers used by Khawaja Sahib were Noor Jahan, Naseem Begum, Irene Parveen, Munir, Mujib Alam, Masood Rana and Ghulam Ali.
The cast of the film comprised Firdaus, Ejaz, Zamurd, Munawar Zarif, Zulfi, Razia, Salma Mumtaz, Tani, Aqeel, Ilyas Kashmiri and Ajmal. A song by Munir ‘Teri Khair Hovey Doli Charh Jaan Waliye” for ‘Heer Ranjha’ is fantastic in which a shehnai plays. Khawaja Khurshid Anwar has done wonders.
Before indulging further in the beauties of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar’s music in this film, let me recapitulate the folklore ‘Heer Ranjha’. All lovers of culture and tradition are aware of the fact that ‘Heer Ranjha’ is one of the most popular among four prevalent tragic romances of the Punjab, the other three being “Mirza Sahiba”, “Sassi Punnu” and “Sohni Mahiwal”. Continued