Noor Jehan (1928 -
2000)
Madame Noor Jehan stands out among the great singers
of Pakistan
who have enchanted
audiences and enlivened film, radio and television entertainment.
Affectionately called "the Melody Queen," Madame Noor Jehan
was a versatile
singer.
Noorjehan was
Born in 1928 in Kasur city of Punjab. She was
named Allah Rakhi. Her mother and her father, Mian Madad
Ali, were
very religious people. As the youngest, she was her mother's
favourite. Love and attention, and her natural good looks, gave this
precocious girl the confidence that has lasted throughout her life. At the
age of only four, Noor Jehan would copy Akhtari Bai Faizabadi and Mukhtar
Begum after listening to their records. Her eldest cousin discovered this
talent and suggested that she be taught classical music. She began studying
under Ustad Ghulam Muhammad Khan, who taught her selflessly and remained
with her throughout his life. By the time she was nine, she had developed a
passion for singing.
She was only ten when she was cast in a film, "Gul
Bakaoli." She first appeared
as a heroine in "Chaudhary," and
her next film,"Khandan" (1942),
was a big hit. Though her fort was singing, she preferred starring in films
to working as a playback singer. She soon caught the eye of film director
Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, who married her and gave her the leading role in "Zeenat," for
which she was awarded a gold medal by Z. A. Bukhari. Many other awards
followed, of which the most memorable for her was the President's Pride of
Performance medal for "Intizar."
After independence, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah invited a group of
noted filmmakers to reestablish the industry in Pakistan. Well-known
directors Mehboob, Kardar, and Shaukat Hussain Rizvi came to Pakistan to
survey the situation, but Noor Jehan and her husband were the only couple
who decided to stay on. Once settled in Lahore, the couple established Shah
Noor Studios from scratch, enabling Madam Noor Jehan to create history later
by becoming the first Pakistani woman director. Her first effort was "Chan
Way," a Punjabi film produced
by her husband.
Later, she married film actor Ijaz Durrani, who asked her to stop acting and
singing. She willingly gave up acting but refused to abandon singing, saying
it was like telling her to stop breathing. "I would prefer to leave a
thousand such husbands," she
remarked.
By the mid-1960s Madam Noor Jehan was the biggest name in singing. She
cemented her position in history during the troubled times of the 1965 war
by singing very emotional and beautiful songs which lifted the people's
morale. At that time her husband was away in Kaghan, and Noor Jehan was
alone in Lahore with her daughters. She used to go to work in the morning
wondering whether she would see her daughters again in the evening. Noor
Jehan volunteered to sing national songs at a time when even
instrumentalists were hard to find. Her renderings of Sufi Tabassum's "Mera
Sohna Shehr Kasur Ni" and "Ai
Putar Hattan Tey Nahin Vikday" are
still among her own favourites.
Her rich voice, fine modulations, and immense range have made Noor Jehan a
rarity among Pakistani singers. She is an enchantress with the ghazal and
the geet, but she is at her best when rendering Punjabi songs. Having been
associated with show-biz for over half a century, Madam Noor Jehan is now
writing her autobiography under the guidance of well-known writer Hijab
Imtiaz Ali Taj.
Madam Noor Jehan has sung over 2,500 songs for feature
films. She says, "My life has
been and will be devoted to music until my last breath. I live to sing, and
singing is my life. For me, fame and glamour are secondary. The appreciation
of my listeners is my true reward."
She died on 23rd December 2000
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