Noor Jahan (Real name Allah
Wasai) was born on September 21, 1926 in a Muslim family in Kasur.
She was an illustrious and
legendary singer and actress who started her career from the film industry of
British India and then continued it in Pakistan. She became extremely famous as
one of the greatest singers of her time in South Asia and was given the title
of Malika-e-Tarannum i.e. the queen of melodies.
She was born in a Punjabi family
of musicians. Though her parents wanted to see her excelled as singer but she
was more inclined towards acting in films and performed in the earliest
Pakistani films. She sung almost 10,000 songs in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and
Sindhi languages. Along with Ahmed Rushdi, she holds the highest record of film
songs in the history of Pakistani cinema. She became the first ever female
Pakistani film director.
Noor Jahan started to sing at the
age of five or six years and showed her interest in various styles, including
traditional folk and popular theatre. Her mother sent her to receive early
training in classical singing under. At the age of nine, she drew the attention
of Punjabi musician Ghulam Ahmed Chishti who composed some ghazals, naats and
folk songs for her to perform. She pursued a career in singing in Lahore.
Jahan's family moved to Calcutta
for the sake of movie career for her sisters. There, renowned singer Mukhtar
Begum recommended them to various producers and her husband, Agha Hashar
Kashmiri, who owned a theatre. It was here that she received the stage name
Baby Noor Jahan.
She acted in various successful
movies including "Pind di Kuri", "Missar Ka Sitara",
"Heer-Sayyal", "Khandaan", "Duhai", "Bari
Maa" and "Mirza Sahibaan".
In 1945, she sung a Qawwali which
was the first ever Qawwali recorded in female voices in South Asian films.
After the creation of Pakistan in
1947, Jahan and husband Shawkat Rizvi decided to move to Pakistan and settled
in Karachi.
Noor Jahan starred in her first
film in Pakistan, "Chan wey" in 1951. Shaukat and Noor Jahan directed
this film together making Noor Jahan Pakistan's first female director.
In 1953-54, Jahan and Rizvi were
divorced and she married an actor, Ejaz Durrani.
Noor Jahan give up action and her
penultmate film as an actress/singer was "Mirza Ghalib" (1961). This
decision enhanced her stature as singer. She last acted in film
"Baaji" in 1963.
Noor Jahan left action in 1963 after
a career of 33 years. She made 14 films in Pakistan, ten in Urdu, four in
Punjabi.
After renouncing her acting
career, she started playback singing. She sang a large number of duets with
Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujeeb
Aalam.
She was an equally proficient
ghazal singer. With rigorous training in classical music, Noor Jahan employed
the essential features necessary to present the ghazal in an exceptional
manner. Her popularity was further boosted with her patriotic songs during the
1965 war between Pakistan and India.
She died on December 23, 2000 at
the age of 74.
On Music Maestros- Malika-e-Tarannum Noor Jahan, Pakistan Post is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs.8/-denomination on September 21, 2013.
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