Nur Jehan - Khalid Hasan

Earlier I posted a link to O P Nayyar. Here is another excellent one on Nur Jehan by the veteran journlaist Khalid Hasan- do click on the heading to read this in full - t

Nur Jehan

Khalid Hasan

I always found it difficult to imagine a world where there would be no Madam Nur Jehan, but the unthinkable came to pass as the year 2000 was drawing to a close. Nur Jehan is gone and never shall we see her like again, nor hear that voice, though it will live in the music she left us.

Born in Kasur on Saturday, 21 September 1926 to Madad Ali and Fateh Bibi, she was named Allah Wasai. She was the youngest in a family of thirteen. They were six sisters, the eldest being Eiden who married lyricist Tanvir Naqvi. Her other sisters were Bibi Gulzar, Ameena Begum, Baharo and Umda “Machine”. This nickname she had earned because of her voice which was so finely honed that people said there was some kind of a machine in this girl’s throat. She had seven brothers named Mian Nawab Din, Gul Muhammad “Gulloo”, Muhammad Hussain, Siddique, Inayat Hussain and Muhammad Shafi. Three of the brothers ended up in mental institutions. Nur Jehan looked after the financial needs of her large family - and even family that was not immediate - all her life. Once she said, “People ask me why I don’t stop working. Well, how can I? If I don’t work, who is going to take care of all these people?” Two of Pakistan movie industry’s younger and highly talented women singers, Azra Jehan and Saira Naseem are her direct family.

An entry in Film Stars, a compendium published in Lahore in 1933, says, “She is slim, delicate and beautiful. She has soft black hair and bewitching eyes. She joined Kohinoor United Artists and appeared in some of their films. Later, she was employed by Seven United Artists and played the lead in some of their films opposite Khalil. Later, she joined Sharda Film Co. and has played important roles in several films. She recently appeared in Patit Pawan of Pratima.”