By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On His Birth Anniversary
प्यासे प्यासे इन मेरे लबों के लिए
तेरे होठों ने हज़ार वादे किये
भूलने वाले कोई जिए तो कैसे जिए
अरे हां अरे हां अरे हां हां
There is a Punjabi saying, ‘One who has not seen Lahore, is not born’. Truly, the modern-day cine goers, are not lucky enough to have cherished or enjoyed the soulful, haunting and scintillating music composed by veterans like Naushad, Ghulam Haider, Ravi, Khayyam, Shankar- Jaikishan, Laxmi-Pyare and Kalyanji Anandji in 50s, 60s and 70s.
Nasir Hussain was one such filmmaker whose films were predominantly masala-musical hits. Hussain started his career with Filmistan- writing “Anarkai” (1953) “Munimji”( 1955) and “Paying Guest” (1957) before hitting the jackpot with Sashadhar Mukherjee’s ” Tumsa Nahin Dekha”;the film that eventually brought him into the limelight as a director and also shaped Shammi Kapoor’s film career as a hero. The duo Shammi and Hussain did another hit ” Dil Deke Dekho”(1959) with Asha Parekh as the heroine. It was Usha Khanna’s debut film as music-director.
Time was ripe for Hussain to set up his own production house-producing a series of hit films like Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), Caravan (1971), Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977). He invariably repeated Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh in films.His other teammates Majrooh Sultanpuri and R. D. Burman were wonderfully associated with him. Hussain’s “Teesri Mazil”, directed by Vijay Anand, had scintillating songs like ‘O Haseena Zulfonwali’, ‘O Mere Sona Re’, ‘Deewaana Mujhsa Nahin’ & ‘Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera’;the music was by R. D. Burman. His “Qyaamat Se Qyaamat Tak”(1988), starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla and directed by Mansoor Khan was a box-office bonanza.
‘Yeh Aankhen Uff Yun Maa’, ‘Sau Saal Pehle Mujhe Tumse Pyaar Tha’, ‘Teri Zulfon Se Judai To Nahin’ , ‘Jia O Jia’ (Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai), ‘Ni Sultana Re’, ‘Tum Bin Jaoon Kahan’ and ”Yeh Khush Nazare’ ( Pyaar Ka Mausam) were other super-hit songs from his films.
