Vintage Favourites - Part 1

Vintage Favourites - Part 2

Vintage Favourites - Part 3

Vintage Favourites - Part 4

1. Ashok Kumar

2. Juthika Roy?

3. Saraswati Devi

4. Surendra

5. Pankaj Mullick

6. Ashok Kumar

7. Pankaj Mullick

8. Probably Kanan Devi?

9. Probably Khursheed Begum?

10. Shamshad Begum

11. Noor Jehan

12. K.L. Saigal

13. Suraiya

14. ?

Also help me identify two more unknown singers from black and white era.

Who is she?

Who is she and the guy next to her?

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Suraiya and Khurshid Anwar

Suraiya sang approximately 13 songs for Khurshid Anwar in 3 films – Ishara (1943), Parwana (1947) and Singaar (1949). Khurshid Anwar was kindly disposed towards K.L. Saigal and Suraiya, both of whom (during their days) had captured the imagination of cine-goers in the Sub-continent. Once Khurshid said, “Suraiya, she is like blotting-paper… the blotting-paper reproduces exactly what you write, likewise Suraiya reproduces exactly what you compose,”

The melancholic Jab tumhi nahin apne and chirpy Naya nainoin mein rang from Parwana (1947) and Singaar (1949) respectively were two of the best songs Suraiya sang for Khurshid. The great chemistry they shared is evident from the fact that Khurshid won the Clare Award for Best Music Director for composing the music of Singaar (1949).

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Madan Mohan & Suraiya

Madan Mohan and Suraiya were friends and according to Madan Mohan’s only sister Shanti Mahendroo, “… we used to stay at Marine Drive near Suraiya’s residence. At that time Madan used to perform in the children’s programme aired by All India Radio. Madan along with Suraiya, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and my younger brother Prakash used to act and sing in those musical programmes. Subsequently, my father bought a bungalow near the Bombay Talkies studio in Malad and we shifted there.”

Suraiya, Madan Mohan, Madan Mohan's wife and Lata Mangeshkar

Professionally, Suraiya and Madan Mohan collaborated only for 1 odd film i.e. Khubsurat (1952). Starring Nasir Khan and Suraiya, the film was an utter flop but two of its songs Yeh chand sitare kiya jane and Mohabbat Mein Kashish Hogee sung by Suraiya and Talat  respectively are still heard today and appear in various compilations and CDs.

Suraiya sang four songs for Madan Mohan, details are provided below:-

Suraiya and Lata

Lata and Suraiya sang five duets together. Details are provided below :-

Three of these duets were composed by Husnlal Bhagtaram, which shouldn’t come as a surprise because Suraiya was one of their favorite vocalists.

Lata on Suraiya

“My eyes mist over when I remember Suraiya ji’s stardom. Oh-ho-ho ho! Kya naam tha unka. I used to just gaze at her long sleek car. I remembered her car’s number by heart. Humlog sochte thay kitne bade artiste hain. People say Suraiya ji’s death is a big loss to the film industry. But who went to see her when she was alive?”

I’ll miss Suraiya ji as a singer and a co-artiste. But more than that I’ll miss her laughter and warmth. We didn’t meet that often….but whenever we did Suraiya ji was great fun. I remember she’d go home after her shootings and then come for recordings. How simply dressed she used to be, in a light-colored salwar-kameez often with a blue dupatta when I met her after a long gap in 1983 when Noorjehan visited India , I saw Suraiya ji in a dark -colored sari with lots of ornaments….I suddenly remembered her simple appearances at out recordings….She would get down from her trademark car and join us. She had a very endearing habit. She would laugh ostensibly for no reason at all, sometimes in the middle of a take, God knows why. Even I’d join her. Once when we were singing a chorus song a third singer got annoyed by this habit of Suraiyaji’s and said, `Jab dekho hansti rehti hai. Mera gana disturb kar diya.’ But I loved her laughter.”

“Suraiya ji sang mostly her own songs on screen. She hardly did playback singing for others. In my opinion she was a very refined actress. Truly gifted…Her acting was subtle and sensitive. She always looked dignified and cultured. She was incapable of seeming faltu on screen. I remember seeing her singing a locomotive song during my childhood in a film called Station Master . All us kids had gone with our mother. For weeks and months after I’d do that train song at home with a toy train on a string.”

“In our heydays she’d be busy with her shooting all day long….I’d be busy in the recording rooms whereas she was in and out of sets….I gave up acting during my childhood. Mujhe acting ke naam pe ghabrahat si hoti thi. Suraiya was slightly older than me…I think I met her for the first time when we had to sing a duet . After that whenever we’d run into each other she was affectionate. I remember meeting her once during her heydays as an actress. When she told me she was cutting down on her acting assignments I told her not to do so. But she said she was tired of acting. `Man nahin karta hai.’

” I think she felt like a misfit after a point. At the dinner at Yusuf Saab(Dilip Kumar)’s home in honor of Noorjehan, Suraiya ji hugged me so tight . `Kitne dinon ke baad main aapko dekh rahin hoon. Kitna naam ho gaya hai aapka. Bahut khushi hai mujhe.’ She was really fond of me. I can’t claim to have been close friends with her. But whenever we met she was really warm, though mischiefmakers, the Narad Muni’s of our industry, tried to spoil our relationship. I remember they spread the rumour , `Suraiya gave Lata something to eat which has spoilt her voice.’

When press persons asked me about this I was aghast , `Suraiyaji ke baarey mein aisa kaise soch sakte hain?’ She was a star in her own right. And because she was an actress she felt no sense of rivalry with me or I with her…Come to think of it even the full-fledged professional singers of those times treated me like their own child. I was really annoyed when people tried to spoil my relations with Suraiya. Agar Lata ka galaa achcha tha to kissine galaa dabaane ki nahin sochi.

Even the hostility with singer Vani Jairam in the 1970s happened because she had been poisoned against me. Initially Vani used to come home. She was told that I said, `Agar Vani gayegi to main nahin gaaongi’. Why on earth would I say such a thing? On the contrary during an interview in London I singled out Vani Jairam as one of the promising voices. Suraiya, Vani Jairam or Runa Laila… the rivalry was attributable to dirty politics.”

“Thank God no one could spoil things between me and Suraiya ji. The last time we met was a few years ago at an awards function where I got the lifetime achievement award. Suraiya ji gave me the award.”

“I believe she died a lonely death. That really saddened me. But that’s life. There’s the story of a politician who had so many visitors his doorstep used to be strewn with chappals and shoes. Once he was out of power all the footwear disappeared. Yeh duniya ki reet hai. But everyone isn’t like that. Yusuf Saab(Dilip Kumar) regularly visits those colleagues who are no longer in the limelight. But such people are in a minority. Koi nahin milta koi nahin yaad karta.” – Subhash K Jha

Suraiya on Lata

… And Suraiya’s viewpoint should count if only because, in spite of being a contemporary singing star, she never projected herself as a Lata rival. She should therefore be acceptable as a neutral observer of the singing scene, for did she not come up with the quote to end all quotes when she said: “Noorjehan was born great, Lata achieved greatness, I had singing greatness thrust upon me.”

When did Suraiya first sense that she was no match for Lata? “It was,” reveals Suraiya, “while recording a duet with Lata for Wadia Movietone’s ‘Balam’, scored by Husnalal Bhagatram with whom I had a musical affinity since this composing duo had just given me two great silver-jubilee hits in ‘Pya ki Jeet’ and ‘Badi Behan’. Lata, so close to Husnalal, had also sung with distinction in ‘Badi Behan’, only there had been no Lata-Suraiya duet in that film. There was one now in ‘Balam’, what were its words….” Suraiya thinks for a moment and says : “Got it, it ran something like this, pick up the words as I hum: O O O pardesi musafir kise karta hai ishare. It was composed in the basic style that Husnalal knew I could take in my stride, but the moment Lata sang her first notes, I could only stand there spellbound. As i missed my cue, both Husnalal and Bhagatram had to assure me that things would work out quite okay between Lata and me in the final take. But I had the savvy to know that those were words being uttered merely to encourage me, I could see then and there that I did not have even a fraction of the vocal talent Lata so effortlessly displayed in her opening notes of O O O pardesi musafir kise karta hai ishare.”

So I asked Suraiya now to forget all about what Husnalal taught her and concentrate on what he taught Lata. Since Suraiya had sung fairly extensively for Lata’s moulder Anil Biswas, too, she was in a position to make a fair assessment, all the more so as she candidly conceded that Lata was highways ahead of her as a singer. “When you sing under masters like Khurshid Anwar, Shyam Sunder, Anil Biswas, Sajjad Hussain and Naushad, you get to know a few things,” noted Suraiya. “Like no matter what Lata might say about Ghulam Haider having spotted her, the one who really made Lata was Husnalal. No doubt Naushad took a lot of pains on Lata. But you had to see the way Husnlal worked on her. A very pleasant man was Husnalal and a very pleasant teacher. I should know, since he got so much out of me, a non-singer. I’ve sung with Lata, I’ve sung with Noorjehan, without having an iota of their talent, so you can imagine what a great teacher Husnalal must have been to have trained Lata the way he did,” pointed out Suraiya.

At this point, Suraiya returned to the theme of the duets she sang with Lata. “There was this duet composed for Lata and me by Naushad in Kardar’s ‘Diwana’; here let me hum it for you, it ran something like this: Mere chand mere laal tum jiyo hazaaron saal. You know the kind of perfectionist Naushad Saab was in the recording room, so Mere chaand mere laal was yet another duet that demonstrated to me how far behind I was, how far ahead Lata was destined to forge.”

“But let us get back to Husnalal-Bhagatram. How memory returns in a flash! I recall yet another duet with Lata for Husnalal-Bhagatram. It was in ‘Sanam’, I forgot it momentarily only because I remember from ‘Sanam’ only my Dev! Yes, my ‘Sanam’ duet with Lata, as tuned by Husnalal-Bhagatram, went something like this: Bedard shikari bedard shikari sun baat hamari arre bedard shikari. This one, I think, was recorded before my Mere chaand mere laal Naushad duet with Lata in ‘Diwana’, it was a duet that brought home to me the fact that Lata was Lata, Suraiya was not Lata, nowhere near her in fact. It was a duet in which I sensed afresh how evocatively Husnalal worked on Lata,” conculded Suraiya – (Source – Lata Mangeshkar by Raju Bharatan)

Listen!

Listen to Suraiya’s and Lata’s first duet O~ pardesi musafir (and in my opinion their best duet) from Balam (1949). Music by Husnlal Bhagatram.

Noor Jehan and Suraiya

Noor Jehan and Suraiya – both were major singing stars of the 40s and 50s. Although they never sang any duet together, they did act together in the Blockbuster film of the 40s Anmol Ghadi (1946).

Anmol Ghadi (1946) Poster - showing Suraiya, Surendra and Noor Jehan

Suraiya on Noor Jehan

“Noor Jehan was my ideal. Noor Jehan was the most affectionate person, an ideal mother and a top class career woman. She was one of the greatest singer actresses the world has ever seen and the film industry has yet to produce another like her. I was only 14 years when I acted with Noor Jehan and was not a trained singer. But both Noor Jehan and Naushad encouraged me to sing in the film “Anmol Ghadi”, I got a small role in the film but got noticed because of her. The film was a big hit and celebrated diamond jubilee in novelty cinema. It was a great experience with Noor Jehan as she was friendly, witty and used to crack jokes and also used to give me tips for make up. She was like my sister, a great mother and a fighter who carried on with her career despite being a single mother” – The Times of India – 25th December, 2000

“Noorjehan was born great, Lata achieved greatness, I had singing greatness thrust upon me.”, Suraiya on Noor Jehan – (Source – Lata Mangeshkar – A Biography by Raju Bharatan)

Nostalgia

Lata, Noor Jehan and Suraiya with Dilip Kumar

Watch!

Suraiya singing Mein dil mein dard basa layi with glimpses of Noor Jehan and Suraiya from Anmol Ghadi (1946).

Suraiya

I had the privilege of meeting actress Suraiya and having lengthy conversations with her on several occasions during my tenure as chief representative of our national airline in Bombay, in the nineties. It was during those meetings that she narrated several interesting anecdotes concerning different phases of her career and the impact of some of the master composers on her style of singing. Such as how Anil’da (Biswas) taught her to breathe in while singing so that it was not caught by the microphone or how Khwaja Saheb (Khursheed Anwer) would lean over the harmonium, with his long hair covering half of his face, while singing a tune to her: Naushad Saheb put her to rigorous rehearsals even when she used to be dead tired after marathon shooting schedules: or how while recording her first song as a child she was made to stand on a wooden stool in order to reach the height of the microphone.

She often recalled fondly the days when as a child from her Marine Drive residence she would walk down to All India Radio (A.I.R.) studio to participate in the children’s programme in which Raj Kapoor and Madan Mohan who later attained fame as an actor, a film maker and music director respectively, used to be her co-artists. The legendary Z.A.Bukhari was then the station director at the A.I.R. Bombay.
Suraiya entered the film industry as a child actress with Taj Mahal (1941), for which maestro S.D. Burman, who was till then known for his Bengali songs, rendered his first Hindi song Prem ki pyaari nishani under the musical baton of Madhulal Master. Suraiya’s next assignment was for Tamanna (1942), for which she also rendered her first duet with then budding singer Mannadey – Jaago aayi usha. It was tuned by Manna’s uncle the well known singer, music director and actor K.C. Dey.

After few other rather insignificant singing and acting assignments (Ujala, Station Master) maestro Naushad selected her as the playback voice for leading lady Mehtab in Sharda (1942). The movie became a turning point in Suraiya’s career as a singer, with two of her songs Panchhi ja, peechhe raha hai bachpan mera and Mere dil ko sajan samjhado becoming very popular. Incidentally, Mehtab was the only actress to whom Suraiya lent her voice in three movies (Sharda, Qanoon and Sanjog). It was quite an incidence per force, that many years later in a female duet situation in Shama (1961) besides singing for herself, she became the ghost voice for Nimmi as well when the other singer Suman Kalyanpur failed to dub her portion of the song. Also two of her songs (Hawa uda kar layi, O bewafa karke jafa — music: Dhani Ram) recorded for an incomplete movie of her’s, were later included in another film Taqdeer (1958) and picturized on its leading lady Shyama.

Suraiya graduated to adult roles with Ishara (1943), playing second lead opposite small-timer Satish with Prithviraj Kapoor and Swarnlata playing the leading roles. In this movie she had only two songs to her credit, a solo (Panghat pe muraliya baaje) and a duet (Baaghon mein koyal boli) with Satish. In Station Master and Ishara her voice was used for the character she played. In Anmol Ghadi she was the third angle of the love triangle, the other two being Noor Jehan and Surendranath. She sang three songs in it.

There is no denying the fact that Naushad Ali, Husnlal – Bhagat Ram and Khursheed Anwer played significant roles in Suraiya’s career but such stalwarts as Anil Biswas, S.D. Burman and Ghulam Mohammad also enhanced her popularity as a singer. Then there were other music directors she teamed up with just once or twice but rendered some extremely melodious though not so popular numbers.

In a career spanning 22 years, Suraiya sung in five or six films and acted in approximately 65 movies which do not include the incomplete ones like Jaanwar (with Dilip Kumar) and Paagal Khaana (with Bharat Bhushan).

From the late forties to the early fifties she remained the highest paid as well as the most worshipped star of the Indian cinema – Sultan Arshad

Profile – Fact File

Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Suraiya

Profile – Fact File

Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Suraiya

Suraiya was born as Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh on June 15 ,1929 in Lahore, British India (now Pakistan) and was the only child of her parents. Some sources say she was born in Gujranwala.

Suraiya’s father owned a small furniture shop in Gujranwala. Later he moved to Lahore and Suraiya was taken to Bombay on the request of her mom, maternal grandmother and uncle. No one heard of Suraiya’s father again after that time.

According to an article published in Shama Magazine, there is a possibility that Suraiya’s Grand mother was actually her mom.

Suraiya sang more than 340 songs in her career spanning > 20 years.

Among male singers Suraiya sang maximum duets with Rafi (24 Duets) and among female singers she sang maximum duets with Lata and Shamshad Begum (5 Duets each).

One of her films Amar Kahani (1949) was re-released as Kanchan in 1955.

She sang maximum number of songs for Husnlal Bhagatram and Naushad.

According to many sources Suraiya and Nargis were arch rivals and never used to get along with each other.

Suraiya worked with all top stars of her era with the exception of Dilip Kumar. The details of why she never worked with Dilip are provided here

As an actress, she worked the most with director D.D. Kashyap in 5 films – Aaj Ki Raat, Badi Behan, Kamal ke Phool, Do Sitare and Shama Parwana; with A.R. Kardar in 4 films – Dard, Dillagi, Dastaan and Deewana and with M. Sadiq in 4 films – Jagbiti, Dak Bangla, Kajal and Char din. She shared great chemistry with director A.R. Kardar and 3 out of the 4 films they worked together were hits (Dard, Dillagi and Dastaan).

Suraiya has the rare honor to work with many other singing-stars of her time including Noor Jehan (Anmol Ghadi), C.H. Atma (Bilwamangal), Talat Mahmood (Maalik and Waris), Mukesh (Mashuqa), K.L Saigal (Tadbeer, Omar Khaiyyam and Parwana) and Surendra (1857 and Anmol Ghadi)

Although a singing star, Suraiya started her career as a playback singer for actress Mehtaab. She sang for Mehtaab in Sharda (1942), Kanoon (1943) and Sanjog (1943). Many years later, she also sang for Nimmi in Shama (1961) besides singing for herself,  because the other singer Suman Kalyanpur failed to dub her portion of the song.  Also two of her songs – Hawa uda kar layi, O bewafa karke jafa — (music: Dhani Ram) recorded for an incomplete movie of her’s, were later included in another film Taqdeer (1958) and picturized on its leading lady Shyama.

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Naushad and Suraiya

Naushad was Suraiya’s mentor and Suraiya sang some of the best songs of her career under Naushad’s baton. It was Naushad who introduced Suraiya as a playback singer for Mehtaab in Sharda (1942) and then later gave hits after hits when Suraiya became full fledged singing star in Anmol Ghadi (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949) and Dastaan (1950). Naushad composed approximately 51 songs for Suraiya, coming at 2nd place after Husnlal Bhagatram for composing the highest number of songs for Suraiya.

Naushad on Suraiya

Suraiya with Naushad

Suraiya, unlike the others, was never a trained singer. She had never taken any lessons in music but till date, it is very difficult to find a voice like her’s. It has that next door appeal, a voice that bears natural tonal quality. Of course, unlike other established singers, her voice had a very narrow range and she needed a number of rehearsals. Had her limitations been kept in mind while setting tunes to adapt to her tonal quality, she was unbeatable.

I introduced her to films almost six decades back as a playback singer. When she grew up and started accepting heroine’s roles, naturally all the music directors of that period including myself made her sing the songs. She was almost reigning supreme as a singing star in the forties. But when a fresh band of female singers started growing up in the decade of 1950s, slowly Suraiya started declining and perhaps due to the age factor she retired from acting and singing in due course.

Only a couple of years ago I asked her to stage a comeback and sing for “Chanakya” but she politely turned down my request saying, ‘I gave up singing a long time ago. If I begin again and if my voice is not up to the mark, people will hear my bad voice and lose whatever respect they have for me. So please don’t force me to stage a comeback”.

Asha Bhosle & Suraiya

Asha Bhosle on Suraiya

Suraiya and Asha sang only 1 duet together. It was composed by Husnlal Bhagatram for Shama Parwana (1954). It is a very lively duet where lovers are waiting for their loved ones. Asha has an interesting tidbit to tell about how this duet was recorded. According to her,

“I remember recording ‘Jaake ladaye naina nadiya kinare’ with Suraiya for Shama Parwana. And every time my take would come, Suraiya would giggle. Some six takes got cancelled. No one dared correct a beautiful top star. Finally out of exasperation I told her, “Aapa aapki hasi khatam ho gayi ho to bata dijiye, phir main gaaongi.”