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Dev Anand’s
Impressionist Years in Punjab Harjap Singh
Aujla
Dev Anand is an icon in Indian film industry. Born in 1924 in Gurdaspur, a
district headquarter town in Lahore Division of undivided Province of
Punjab. He is in his mid eighties, but is still going strong and healthy.
He has never put on excessive weight. Perhaps that is why he has lasted
this long without any serious health problems. He has been a “Casanova”
for over half a century. Even today he has several admirers amongst the
women film goers. During his hey days, from late forties to late sixties,
he was a rage amongst women and his films did very well.
The Forgotten
Gujjranwalias and Sheikhupurias of Karnal
Harjap Singh Aujla
In my recent article about the
relocation of Lahoria Hindus and Sikhs, I made a mention of where most of
them were settled. In this article I shall deal with the tragedy of the
Hindus and Sikhs, who were uprooted from the districts of Gujjranwala and
Sheikhupura. The Lahorias and the Sialkotias were lucky, because they were
the first to be settled in the Punjabi speaking areas of erstwhile East
Punjab. The sons and grandsons of the valiant Sikh soldiers, who were
settled in Lyallpur and Montgomery districts were very influential. They
had Giani Kartar Singh, an astute politician, as their leader. So they
were also settled in the areas and districts of their choice. But the
refugees from Gujjranwala and Sheikhupura were not that lucky. Firstly,
they suffered massive losses of life during the rioting and secondly, they
were made to settle in non-Punjabi areas.
A Part of Lahore Lives
in Amritsar
Harjap Singh Aujla
Every
language and every culture has a character and a center, which can be
called its fulcrum. For Urdu Culture such a center is
Lucknow
. As far as Punjabi language and culture are concerned, the center was
undoubtedly
Lahore
. A lot of connoisseurs of Punjabi language believe and I happen to be one
of them that Gujjranwala’s population speaks an even sweeter version of
Punjabi. Culturally, however, there is no doubt that
Lahore
is still the prime center of Punjabi.
Shaminder’s Cravings for
Duets with Lata Mangeshkar
Harjap Singh Aujla
There
are very few gramophone discs recorded in the voice of Shaminder. Bhai
Shaminder Singh hailed from a wealthy landlord family of Muktsar, a
historic town in Southern part of East Punjab. Shaminder was fond of
decent music from his childhood and he got his primary lessons in
classical Indian music from a local Sikh religious musician. From his
teens, he used to sing while being alone. He was exposed to good Punjabi
and Hindi music since his early childhood. He liked Suraiya, Surinder Kaur
and Shamshad, but his most favourite singer was Lata Mangeshkar, whom he
admired like a living goddess, a “Devi”.
Talat Mahamood’s Love for
Punjabi
Harjap Singh Aujla
Talat
Mahmood was a symbol of finesse in manners, language and singing. During
good old days, in the Indo-Gangetic plains of Northern India there were
three great centers of distinctly different cultures. Calcutta was the
home of Bengali culture Lahore was the center of Punjabi culture and
Lucknow used to be the heart and soul of Urdu culture. Hailing from an old
“Nawabi” (princely) family, Talat Mahmood was brought up in the cradle of
sophisticated Urdu culture. He was born on February 24, 1924. Since his
childhood he was fond of good music and fine poetry.
Legendary Singer Surinder
Kaur and the Trauma of Partition
Harjap Singh Aujla
WE
are celebrating the independence days of Pakistan and India in August, but
there are bitter memories in the eyes of those who saw the events
unfolding at the time of the first independence-day. Surinder Kaur was one
such witness to the horrors of partition of the Indian sub continent.
During the nineties of the 20th century, two of Surinder Kaur’s daughters
got settled in New Jersey, USA. She used to visit America during the
summers each year. Outside her own family members and those of her older
sister Parkash Kaur, the only people she would often call on were Iqbal
Mahal of Toronto and myself, because we were among her biggest fans in
North America. Once I asked her about her childhood and the formative
years, she started talking about the partition of Punjab. Here is what she
told long before her death in May 2006
Husnalal Bhagatram and
the rise of Lata Mangeshkar
Harjap Singh Aujla
There
is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine
percent perspiration. No matter how big a person grows, this saying comes
true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch
her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work
and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her
the break of her life.
Lata gave her best
under Punjabi music directors
Harjap Singh Aujla
I
am experiencing mixed feelings of immense pleasure and deep sadness in
compiling this article. The pleasure is born out of the satisfaction that
I am experiencing the nostalgia of a treasure of unparalleled Punjabi
music that once flowed from the God given vocal chords of Lata Mangeshkar.
The sorrow is due to the Punjabi nature of callous indifference that leads
to virtual extinction of this kind of treasure trove. To me writing of
this article amounts to salvaging of some of the treasures buried under
deep seas after the sinking of Titanic.
Bhai Santa Singh – A
Unique Exponent of Guru’s Hymns
Harjap Singh Aujla
AS
a child I was used to waking up between 6 and 7am. But on one cold early
winter morning of 1948, my mother woke me up at about 4:30am, gave me a
bath and made my JooRa (a bun of combed and knotted hair worn by
the Sikhs). After I put on new clothes, she took me to the family radio
and asked me to operate it. I pushed the on-button and the light came on.
Soon the sound appeared. The sign-on tune of All India Radio looked like a
great achievement. Then a sweet voice announced the time 5:00am and the
start of a special one hour morning service on the airwaves of All India
Radio Jalandhar-Amritsar in honour of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
Ghulam Haider: Punjab's
Pioneering Musician
By Harjap Singh Aujla
Master
Ghulam Haider was one of the all time greats amongst the pioneering music
directors of India. His life story is extremely fascinating. His meteoric
rise can be compared to that of a foot soldier, rising to the rank of a
general. I was perplexed to know that every write up about him starts from
the age of 25 or even later and ends up at his demise.
S. Mohider: The Soulful
Mucisian by
Harjap Singh Aujla
IT
was the year 1956, a soulful melody in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar,
“Guzra Hua Zamana Ata Nahin Dobara… Hafiz Khuda Tumhara, virtually
everyday on the airwaves of All India Radio, Radio Pakistan and Radio
Ceylon. It was a song of the sub continent, soulful and haunting. It was a
song from a Madhubala film “Shireen Farhad”. Its composer was the
memorable S. Mohinder
Sardul Kawatra and his
Soulful Music Harjap Singh Aujla
Sometimes
I feel that there are several important aspects of the history of Punjab,
which have gone unrecorded. Although Punjabi pop music is currently
dominating the musical scene of India, yet no one has taken pains to
discover the pioneering times of its mother, the folk and light Punjabi
music. I have hardly seen any material on the history of Punjabi cinema.
This article is an attempt to record whatever I know about the history of
Punjabi film music.
FAZILKA’S EIFFEL TOWER
Harjap Singh Aujla
Fazilka is a sleepy sub-divisional
headquarter on the Southern tip of Ferozepore district close to the border
with Pakistan...
Vinod
- A Brilliant Music Director Who Never Got His Due Harjap Singh Aujla
A yesteryears popular music director of
Punjabi films Sardul Singh Kwatra once, who is no more us, once painfully
remarked that the Bombay film industry can swing in extremes, at times it
can be very generous and at others very cruel. It bows its head before
you, if you have a big nametag or a big name God-father is solidly behind
you and more often it denies respect your genius. Perhaps Sardul also
meant that even he was not given his due by the
Bombay
film World. |
