A common factor, throughout, would be Mehdi Hassan’s voice. I reveled in those songs, and such was my love for Mehdi Hassan’s voice, that even though eight out of ten Pakistani film songs - especially the ones by Noor Jahan and Nahid Akhtar - sounded more like nasal noise with loosely arranged, loud music with rough sounding strings arrangements, the remaining two gems that crept in, as if embarrassed, truly glittered – as lilting as the best melodies from India. Mehdi Hassan was the undisputed Ghazal King, and also excelled at film songs. The door to the room shut, Volume nicely up, Bass and Treble levels set, I would sit back and pray that the next song my favourite announcer on Radio Pakistan Lahore, Hassan Shahid Mirza, announced, would be one sung by Mehdi Hassan, and for a film. It had a golden grill, two speakers, and a lovely green-glowing valve, the tuning indicator light which you tried to reduce as close to a hair-thin sliver as possible – for that indicated the finest tuning.
Thankfully, Radio Pakistan’s Lahore station tuned loud and clear on Medium Wave on my cherished possession, the six-band HMV Peacock radio with a glowing rich wooden body the grains of which gleamed brighter with each dusting. Rafta Rafta Woh Meri Hasti Ka Saamaan Ho Gaye, Ranjish Hi Sahi, Kaise Kaise Log Hamare Dil Ko Jalaane Aa Jaate Hain, Tanha Thi Aur Hamesha Se Tanha Hai Zindagi… It was 1974-75, I think, and I was in Chandigarh. I remember, some of the first Mehdi Hassan songs I heard were from an LP of his old Pakistani Film songs – each a gem. (My heart goes out to a dear friend from Pakistan, Goher Iqbal Punn, who, years ago, had sent me an assortment of excellent Pakistani songs.
Thank God for recordings – Mehdi Hassan’s golden voice, with the breathtakingly handsome balance of smoothness and gravelly texture that surely was the result of a divine fluke, will live on for ever. I loved her even more then, if that is possible, because Mehdi Hassan has always been my favourite too. Ameer Meenai's Sarakti jaaye hain was incorporated in Deedaar-E-Yaar, while Makhdoom Moinnudin's Aap ki yaad (Gaman) and Phir chhidi raat (Bazaar) were other examples of such songs.Back in 2004, I think it was, when I met the great Lata Mangeshkar to discuss PR for MAX for the India v/s Sri Lanka benefit match for the Dinanath Mangeshkar Memorial Hospital she was keen on setting up in Pune, when she told me, in response to a question about her favourite singers: “If I can, I always make it a point to listen to two singers every night before going to bed, and every morning after I wake up.” One, she said, was Barbara Streisand. Ghalib's biopic Mirza Ghalib used his verse set to music by Ghulam Mohammed, with legends singing Dil-e-nadaan (Suraiya-Talat Mahmood) and Nuktachin hai(Suraiya), Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal emperor-poet, wrote Na kisiki aankh ka noor hoon, a litany of lost love used in three films including Lal Qila and the 2002 Sharaarat. Mir's Dikhayi diye yun was used with stunning musical effect in Bazaar. On the other hand, the poems by the legendary ghazal pioneers - Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Ghalib as well as later masters like Ameer Meenai, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Makhdoom Moinuddin - were also employed in Hindi films. The mujra was another genre that used this form of verse (as in the two film versions of Umrao Jaan with lyrics respectively by Shahryar and Javed Akhtar, the mujras of Ek Nazar by Majrooh Sultanpuri and the classic Chalte chalte yun hi koi/ Pakeezah/Kaifi Azmi).Īlways remembering the fact that this was a form of verse rather than music, the pure ghazal could even be concealed, so to speak, within seemingly routine romantic songs like Uthaye jaa unke sitam (the 1949 Andaz/ Majrooh) and Na tum bewafa ho (Ek Kali Muskayee/ Rajendra Krishan) or even Agar tum mil jaao (Zeher/ Sayeed Quadri). Others were ghazals in part (Dard-e-dil/Karz/Anand Bakshi) despite a Westernised musical and audiovisual presentation. Several songs, while not being ghazals even in a modified format, had the aura or feel of this genre, like Chitthi aayi hai (Naam/Anand Bakshi). Space does not permit an extensive analysis of the use of ghazals in our movies, but we must point out some interesting aspects. And gradually the ghazal came to be identified more with a mood and a flowery quality in words, like in Jeeye to jeeye kaise bin aapke (Saajan/ Sameer), Jaane kyoon log mohabbat (Mehboob Ki Mehndi/Anand Bakshi) and Honthon se chhoo lo tum (Prem Geet/Indeewar) among many others. The film song also broke the rhyming norm as the traditional mukhda-antara format got precedence over the poetic rules. The film song, for example, had to have continuity of thought since ghazals here are almost exclusively romantic. In films, for obvious reasons, the ghazal was experimented with in various ways.
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