Does the youth interested in bygone era’s music?

It’s highly debatable that does the youth interested in bygone era’s music. It’s fresh,

refreshing and perspective towards an old world which they have not seen or heard. Back in

the 90s talking about old music with my dad it was refreshing and nostalgic. For him it was

also a pleasant journey down the memory lane. For hours together he could talk about

Suraiya and the era,his eyes shone brilliantly.

In those days AIR was just a new fledging medium and the hinterlands of the nation couldn’t

afford to own the radio listening to Radio Ceylon. The nation threw in rapture when Suraiya,

sang “tu mera chand mein teri chandni” in 1949 film Dillagi. They crowded the loudspeaker

man when he played, “Murli wale Murli baja.” The craze for Suraiya was such, folks

thronged to the movie theatres for the next 20 weeks in the hinterlands of north India. She

was not a trained singer, she did not have any guru or a mentor. Raju Bharatan in his book A

Journey down Memory Lane, quoted composer Khurshid “Suraiya, she was like blotting

paper, she had the gift of absorbing the ‘‘notes’’ exactly as I gave them to her in spite of the

fact that she knew no music at all.”

Suraiya was born in Lahore on 15th June 1929 and passed away in 2004. She started as a

child artist in the 1936 movie Madame Fashion. Her career spanned from 1936 to 1963, she

acted in 67 films and sang 338 songs. Living those days when she was at her peak in singing

and acting it was one of the brilliant slices of the proverbial pre golden era and golden era of

the Indian cinema.

Once during the award function for President’s Medal for Best Indian Film for film Mirza

Ghalib , Pt.Nehru said, “tumne Ghalib ki rooh ko zinda kar diya.” He was a great admirer of

Suraiya’s singing. Year Mirza Ghalib(1954) movie was released, the country was enthralled,

when Suraiya sang, “Dil-e-nadaa tujhe hua kya ha.” In 1954, it ranked fourth in top grossing

movie earning more than 1.7 crore rupees on box office (box office india.com).

Once legendary composer, Naushad said, she was a people’s singer as the next-door girl. The

duo produced some sensational melodies of the times collaborating on more than 50 songs.

Those days Naushad didn’t like Lata Mangeshkar’s singing style, he thought Lata aped

Noorjehan to a larger extent. Suraiya’s first song was in 1942 as a child artist when by chance

encounter, she met Naushad Sahab at Kardar Studio. In year 1942 ‘Boot Karon mein polish’

in the movie Nai Duniya was her first song. Suraiya became nation’s heartthrob when she

sang in Naushad’s Sharda, ‘panchi jaa peeche raha hai bachpan mera’.

Suraiya, sang three solo songs in the 1946 film Anmol Ghadi. She sang ‘main dil main dard

basa lai,’ against Noorjehan’s iconic, ‘awaaz de kaha hai’ and unforgettable ‘uran khatole pe

ud jaoon’ by Shamshad Begum and Zohra Bai Ambalewali. Naushad had great confidence in

her, giving three songs in the movie speaks volumes of her brilliance. Amusingly, in the

movie shoot Noorjehan created problems for the fledging Suraiya though she held her sway.

Suraiya’s contribution to the Indian cinema are beautifully crafted in late filmmaker O.P.

Dutta’ words, “Suraiya Bano, to me was a bundle of unforgettable qualities. A sublime voice,

the ringing the voice, the perfect diction, the effortless rendering. Though she insisted that

she was no singer. In his tribute Naushad sahab in called her people’s voice mesmerizing the

glorious past and the winning the future generations.