Noorjahan

Noor Jehan (21 September 192623 December 2000) was a Pakistani playback singer and actress who worked in both British India and later in Pakistan's cinema. Her career lasted over six decades, during which she recorded 10,000 songs. Jehan had proficiency in Hindustani classical music, as well as in other genres such as Punjabi and Sindhi. She made her directorial debut with the film ''Chann Wey'' in 1951, becoming the first female film director in Pakistan. She is recognized for her contributions to music in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Pakistan. She was given the title of Malika-e-Tarannum ("Queen of Melody") in Pakistan.

Along with Ahmed Rushdi, she holds the record for having given voice to the largest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema. She recorded about 10,000 songs in various languages, including Urdu, Punjabi, and Sindhi. She sang a total of 2,422 songs in 1,148 Pakistani films during a career that lasted more than half a century. She is also considered to be the first female Pakistani film director.

Early life

Noor Jehan was born as Allah Rakhi Wasai on 21 September 1926 into a Punjabi Muslim family in Kot Murad Khan, near Kasur, Punjab, British India. She was one of eight children of Imdad Ali and Fateh Bibi.

From an early age, she displayed a keen interest in music and began singing at the age of six. Her father recognized her talent and arranged for her to receive formal training in classical music. She studied under Ustad Ghulam Mohammad and later with Kajjanbai, focusing on the Patiala Gharana style of Hindustani classical music, including forms like thumri, dhrupad, and khyal.

By age nine, she had attracted the attention of Punjabi musician Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, who composed early pieces for her and introduced her to stage performances in Lahore. Her family later moved to Calcutta in the early 1930s in hopes of establishing careers in the performing arts for her and her elder sisters, Eiden Bai and Haider Bandi. Theatre owner Diwan Sardari Lal supported their relocation, and Noor Jehan continued her training while participating in musical theatre. The acclaimed singer Mukhtar Begum, wife of playwright Agha Hashar Kashmiri, mentored the young performer and helped her enter the film industry. It was during this time that she adopted the stage name Baby Noor Jehan.

Career

Career in British India

Noor Jehan began to sing at the age of six and showed a keen interest in a range of styles, including traditional folk and popular theatre. Realising her potential for singing, her father sent her to receive early training in classical singing under Ustad Ghulam Mohammad and Kajjanbai. She started her training at age 11 in Calcutta, where instructors instructed her in the traditions of the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani classical music and the classical forms of ''thumri'', ''dhrupad'', and ''khyal''.

At the age of nine, Noor Jehan drew the attention of Punjabi musician Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, who would later introduce her to the stage in Lahore. He composed some ghazals, na`ats, and folk songs for her to perform, although she was keener on breaking into acting or playback singing. Once her vocational training finished, Jehan pursued a career in singing alongside her sister in Lahore, and would usually take part in the live song and dance performances prior to screenings of films in cinemas.

Theatre owner ''Diwan Sardari Lal'' took the small girl to Calcutta in the early 1930s, and the entire family moved to Calcutta in hopes of developing the movie careers of Allah Wasai and her older sisters, Eiden Bai and Haider Bandi. Mukhtar Begum (not to be confused with actress Sabiha Khanum) encouraged the sisters to join film companies and recommended them to various producers. She also recommended them to her husband, Agha Hashar Kashmiri, who owned a ''maidan theatre'' (a tented theatre to accommodate large audiences). It was here that Wasai received the stage name, Baby Noor Jehan. Her older sisters were offered jobs with one of the Seth Sukh Karnani companies, Indira Movietone, and they went on to be known as the ''Punjab Mail''.

In 1935, K.D. Mehra directed the Punjabi movie ''Pind di Kuri'', in which Noor Jehan acted along with her sisters and sang the Punjabi song "Langh aja patan chanaan da o yaar," which became her earliest hit. She then acted in a film called ''Missar Ka Sitara'' (1936) by the same company and sang in it for music composer Damodar Sharma. Jehan also played the child role of Heer in the 1937 film ''Heer-Sayyal'' . One of her popular songs from that period, "Shala Jawaniyan Maney" is from Dalsukh Pancholi's Punjabi film ''Gul Bakawli'' (1939). All these Punjabi movies were made in Calcutta. After a few years in Calcutta, Jehan returned to Lahore in 1938. In 1939, renowned music director Ghulam Haider composed songs for Jehan which led to her early popularity, and he thus became her early mentor.

In 1942, she played the main lead opposite Pran in '' Khandaan'' (1942). It was her first role as an adult, and the film was a major success. The success of ''Khandaan'' saw her shifting to Bombay, with the director Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She shared melodies with Shanta Apte in '' Duhai'' (1943). It was in this film that Jehan lent her voice for the second time, to another actress named Husn Bano. She married Rizvi later the same year. From 1945 to 1947 and her subsequent move to Pakistan, Noor Jehan was one of the biggest film actresses of the Indian Film Industry. Her films: ''Badi Maa, Zeenat, Gaon Ki Gori'' (all 1945), (1946), Mirza Sahiban (1947) and '' Jugnu'' (1947) were the top-grossing films of the years 1945 to 1947. Mirza Sahiban was her last film released in India in which she was paired opposite Trilok Kapoor, brother of Prithviraj Kapoor. Alongside Suraiya, she was the biggest star in the country before Independence.

Acting career in Pakistan

In 1947, Rizvi and Jehan decided to move to Pakistan, upon the independence of the British Indian Empire, and had resulted in partition of India. They left Bombay and settled in Karachi with their family.

Three years after settling in Pakistan, Jehan starred in her first Pakistani film ''Chan Wey'' (1951), opposite Santosh Kumar, which was also her first Pakistani film as a heroine and playback singer. Shaukat Hussain Rizvi and Noor Jehan directed this film together, making Jehan Pakistan's first female director. It became the highest-grossing film in Pakistan in 1951. Jehan's second film in Pakistan was ''Dupatta'' (1952) which was produced by Aslam Lodhi, directed by Sibtain Fazli and assisted by A. H. Rana as production manager. Dupatta turned out to be an even bigger success than ''Chan Wey'' (1951).

During 1953 and 1954, Jehan and Rizvi had problems and got divorced due to personal differences. She kept custody of the three children from their marriage. In 1959, she married another film actor, Ejaz Durrani, nine years her junior. Durrani pressured her to give up acting, and her last film as an actress/singer was ''Ghalib'' (1961). This contributed to the strengthening of her iconic stature. She gained another audience for herself. Her rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's ''" Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat Mere Mehboob Na Maang"'' is a unique example of ''tarranum'', reciting poetry as a song with music of Rasheed Attre in the Pakistani film ''Qaidi'' (1962). Jehan last acted in ''Baaji'' in 1963, though not in a leading role.

Jehan bade farewell to film acting in 1963 after a career of 33 years (1930–1963). The pressure of being a mother of six children and the demands of being a wife to another fellow film actor, forced her to give up her career. Jehan made 14 films in Pakistan, ten in Urdu and four in Punjabi as a film actress.

As playback singer

After quitting acting she took up playback singing. She made her debut exclusively as a playback singer in 1960 with the film ''Salma''. Her first initial playback singing for a Pakistani film was for the 1951 film ''Chann Wey'', for which she was the film director herself. She received many awards, including the Pride of Performance in 1965 by the Pakistani Government. She sang a large number of duets with Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujeeb Aalam.

She had an understanding and friendship with many singers of Asia, for example with Alam Lohar and many more. Jehan made great efforts to attend the "Mehfils" (live concerts) of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Roshan Ara Begum. Lata Mangeshkar commented on Jehan's vocal range, that Jehan could sing as low and as high as she wanted, and that the quality of her voice always remained the same. Singing was, for Jehan, not effortless but an emotionally and physically draining exercise. In the 1990s, Jehan also sang for then débutante actresses Neeli

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