Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc Path: Lehigh.EDU!netnews.upenn.edu!news.amherst.edu!news.umass.edu!caen!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hplextra!news.dtc.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hpax!vishk From: vishk@cup.hp.com (Vish Krishnan) Subject: Lata & Noorjehan - Part I Sender: news@hpax (News Admin) Message-ID: Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 01:31:27 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: capella.cup.hp.com Organization: Hewlett-Packard X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0.7] Lines: 190 Lata and Noor Jehan - Parallel Lines Meet ----------------------------------------- This rambling set of notes I made to myself are in a large part inspired by a posting some days back by Sami. I have been wanting to write this chronology for a long time now. It needed a catalyst somewhere. The following article is in 4 parts only because it is much too long to be just 1 or even 2 postings. But that is what it is - just one chapter. The '30s and '40s represent the time of grand entrepreneurship for Indian cinema. I have attempted to bring to light, some of the great personalities that played their parts in the making of Lata and Noor Jehan, and gave a lot of their own lives to the cause. Perhaps it was selfless, and perhaps it was also motivated by business goals. On balance, the beneficiaries are you and me. Here is Part I. cheers vish ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I - The Early Years ------------------------ Noorjehan was born in the Kasur area of Punjab on September 21 1929. There are some arguments about the year in which she was born. If 1929 is indeed right, then that would make her senior to Lata Mangeshkar by a grand 7 days. Lata came along on September 28 1929 in the Holkar city of Indore - a place that now remembers the grand dame through the Lata Mangeshkar award instituted in 1984. For me personally, Indore brings back fond childhood and teenage memories. While Lata was initially tutored by her father Dinanath, Baby Noorjehan was put to work under the tutelage of Ustad Ghulam Mohammed Khan. She pursued that training through her childhood years. By contrast, Lata's childhood was less stable. After Master Dinanath's death, she was adopted by Vinayak Damodar Karnataki, a close personal friend of the Mangeshkar family, godfather to the 5 siblings, and a rather famous moviemaker in his own right (better known as Master Vinayak, and also father of movie star Nanda). Master Vinayak would play a key role in helping Lata and Asha get started with their careers. And further, he would one day bring the two sisters and Noorjehan together in a single movie. I had read somewhere that Noorjehan moved to Calcutta where she became a stage actress at the rather tender age of 6. But it was also around that time that Punjabi movie makers like K.D. Mehra were looking to staff their Lahore productions with the right kind of people. I may be stretching this a bit, but perhaps people like Mehra can take credit for bringing the stage child of Calcutta to Lahore cinema. The years 35-37 were to have bit parts for the child in movies like GAIBI GOLA (her first?), MISAR KA SITARA, AAZADI, NARIRAJ, FAKHR-I-ISLAAM etc. During this period, Lata was taught by a series of accomplished musicians. She was still a child oblivious to the machinations of the movie world, and still unsure as to her real mission in life. She could be a singer or an actress. Indeed, both Lata and Noorjehan did just that - act and sing for movies. Lata acted her last movie role in the early '50s. Noorjehan made her career out of it. Enter Mr. Dalsukh M. Panchholi. This (perhaps forgotten) moviemaker was doing roaring business in those days, especially in the arena of importing movie technology from the US. He had a fairly stable operation with Panchholi Studios, Lahore. And he will go down in history as the man who provided Baby Noorjehan with her first prominent role as well as a stable job in a series of Punjabi movies. People really took notice of the glamour girl in the Punjabi hit GUL-E-BAKAVLI(1939). I do wonder sometimes if our National Archives still have prints available for movies of this age. More about Panchholi Studios. A young and ambitious director/story writer who called himself Shauqat Hussain Rizvi had become a close friend of Mr.Panchholi. He showed tremendous promise, and would not have any trouble finding employment with Panchholi OR with other studios. I suppose he came in looking for a job one day, and instead, he met Noorjehan, quite possibly on the sets of GUL-E-BAKAVLI, or soon thereafter. The Punjabi bit parts continued with movies like HEER SYAL, SASSI PUNNU, YAMLA JAAT, CHOUDHURY etc. But after GUL-E-BAKAVLI, there was someone in Noorjehan's life. Three years after she had her first break, Shauqat Hussain made his directorial debut with Panchholi Studio's KHAANDAAN (1942). It was also around this time that Shauqat Hussain and Noorjehan got married. I am not sure as to the year, but from everything I have read, she may well have been dallying with her first teenage year when the wedding took place. KHAANDAAN was a reasonably big hit. Starring Noorjehan and Ghulam Mohammed, it followed the two previous Panchholi hits KHAZANCHI and ZAMINDAR (1941-42). While these 2 movies did not star Noorjehan, they represented a distinguished gathering of stars like Shanta Apte, Ghulam Mohammed, Mohammed Ismail, Ramola, and a budding S.D. Narang. But they were best known for their music by Master Ghulam Haider, by then a Panchholi standard. Master Haider was a close associate of Dalsukh M., and a big name in Lahore and Bombay alike. And he was already a big Noorjehan fan. While she was doing her bit parts in Panchholi's Punjabi productions, Master Haider was there, quietly setting the very same movies to music. But KHANDAAN was different. Here was the leading lady, the born-again GUL-E-BAKAVLI, singing what Master Haider himself would deem his best songs. The handful of Noorjehan songs in KHANDAAN are classics starting with "Ud Jaa Panchhi Ud Jaa", and moving on to "Shok Sitaaron Se Hilmil Hum Khelenge", "Mere Liye Jahaan Mein Chain Naa Qaraar Hai", and my favourite Tu Kaun Si Badli Mein Mere Chaand Hai Aa Ja Tar Hain Mere Zakhm-E-Jigar, Dil Mein Samaa Ja The interlude and following stanzas flow into some beautiful Patdeep phrases the likes of which are seldom heard in movies. KHAANDAAN was the first big movie in Noorjehan's life. It put her name right alongside the blockbuster names of the '40s. Another piece of trivia. The story for KHAANDAAN was written by Urdu playwright Imtiaz Ali Taj. Known and famous for his 1922 play ANARKALI (made into several stage productions of that era), he too would figure again in Noorjehan's life after 1947. It was 1942. For Noorjehan and Shauqat Hussain, there was only one more world to conquer. They had not yet come face-to-face with the glitter of Bombay cinema. Even as it was all one country, it must have seemed far. One thing was clear though. Panchholi Arts, huge as the studio was, had become a small place to contain their ambitions. They knew they would try Bombay out. It was only a matter of getting the first offer. It was about now that Master Vinayak, a movie giant in his own way, was planning his exit from Navyug Chitrapat, a movie studio he had helped create. He was no stranger to this business, having started with Kolhapur Cinetone in 1933. His acting style had evolved from the stage medium to Shantaram's early Prabhat Studio films. It was during this period that he came under the influence of Marathi intellectuals such as P.K. Atre, C. V. Joshi and V. S. Khandekar, a rare breed that broke away from feudal social genre movies, and introduced what may be a major contribution of Marathi cinema of that age - modern Indian satire. It was time for Master Vinayak to move out and create his own place with his own personal signature. Huns Pictures was born in 1936. The distinct political satire transported through the characters of Gundyabhau and Chimanrao (always played by Vishnupant Jog and Damuanna Malvankar respectively) became a Marathi movie phenomenon whose wit and sarcasm has been perpetuated by more recent literary personalities like P.L. Deshpande, Ram Gabale, G.D. Madgulkar, Raja Paranjape et al. But in 1936, that is what what it was. Four years of creative fun at Huns Pictures. Master Vinayak moved on again, this time to create Navyug Chitrapat. The time was around 1940. Now, in addition to the movie studio, he had the responsibility of his godchildren. It would be a good two years into Master Vinayak's Navyug career before anyone would notice Lata Mangeshkar. Two events of 1942 are relevant here. First, Master Vinayak started his last Navyug Chitrapat movie PAHILI MANAGALAGAUR, and ensured a bit part for 13-year old Lata. This, from all records, is Lata's first stint with movies. The music was created by Dada Chandekar, but to the best of anyone's knowledge, there was no Lata in any of the songs. Curiously enough, around the same time, a 9-year old Mumtaz Jehan Begum was making her debut as a singer with Bombay Talkies' BASANT. She did not know then that she would go on to epitomize glamour and become Madhubala, but would never sing again. Nor did Lata have an inkling that she would go on to epitomize glamour of a different kind. Master Vinayak started PAHILI..., but due to a new business project, he would not stay long enough to complete it. Colleague R.S. Junnarkar finished the job, just in time before Navyug closed down. But before all that, Master Vinayak put in a word with Vasant Joglekar, a script-writer/assistant director at Navyug who was working on his very own KITI HASAAL. His efforts at getting Lata to sing for PAHILI MANAGALAGAUR did not succeed, but with KITI HASAAL, he was almost adamant. Finally, one day, music director Sadashivrao Nevrekar brought the shy 13-year old into the recording studio. The Marathi song "Naachu Ya Gade Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhari" stands as Lata's first recording. The movie was KITI HASAAL, and the year was 1942. The song never saw the light of day. But Master Vinayak must have been at least a bit gratified. Perhaps he sensed that the foundation had been laid for a new standard in good female singing. In the 1942-43 period, Master Vinayak launched Prafulla Pictures, his third and last motion picture studio. He would make 6 movies under this banner. Additionally, he would direct one movie under Shantaram's Rajkamal Kalamandir, and he would also act in Shantaram's DR. KOTNIS KI AMAR KAHANI. Of the 7 total movies created by the Master in the remaining 4 years of his life (1943-47), the first 3 were Marathi productions, and the remaining Hindi. Thus, before he departed, Master Vinayak made sure that Lata's entry into Bombay's Hindi medium, if not clear, was at least visible and within reach. The rest would be up to her. In his scheme of things, his beautiful god-daughter was destined to be a great movie star and a great singer. Right or wrong, that was his belief, and he tried everything within his power to lay that groundwork. All 7 movies made during the 1943-48 period were to star Lata Mangeshkar, although not in particularly significant roles.