Recently, a Pakistani friend of mine, Arif Shaikh, sent
me a newspaper cutting. It was an article on Noor Jehan
published in "navaa-e-vaqt" on April 4, 2000. It was based
on an interview with shaahiin, a long-time friend of the
Madam, by saif-ullaah sapraa. Here is the translation by me
with help from my friend and guru, Professor Raj Kumar
Pathria, world-famous textbook author and published Gazal
writer. My comments are in []. It throws some light on her
early days and may have been her last interview. She died on
December 23, 2000. Nobody seems to know when she was born. I
have seen estimates ranging from 1922 to 1929.

The title of the article is, "Thank God that successes
and only successes have come my way - Noor Jehan"

malikaa-e-tarannum Noor Jehan [=MTNJ, henceforth] said
that she has been ill for the last three years. Even so, she
did not get unduly worried due to this long sickness. "I
thank God that He gave me the courage to confront this
disease and the perseverance to be patient. I even went to
UK and US for treatment, but the way I was treated at the
aaGaa Kaan hospital, karaachii [a modern hospital apparently
planned with help from Harvard Medical College, among
others.] and the peace that I found in my own country during
my illness, I was not able to get in foreign countries.
Here, the whole aaGaa Kaan hospital staff is ready to serve
and treat me. This hospital is of my own country. These
doctors are also of my own country, for which I sang songs
for all my life. Why won't they take care of me? Besides, my
own home is here, my children are here and they are serving
me. zil-e-humaa, akbar, asGar and hinaa all take good care
of me. lataa mangeshakar has also phoned me often to suggest
that I should go to Bombay and that she would help me in
getting treatment. But I have told her that the kind of
peace I have in my own country I can never get in India."

All of the above was told to shaahiin Kaan, a long-time
friend of MTNJ, by MTNJ herself. shaahiin recently went from
laahaur to karaachii and spent several days with MTNJ.
shaahiin told me [=saif-ullaah] that when she reached
karaachii to meet MTNJ, incidentally zil-e-humaa was there
too. Every day, after dinner, all of us sat together and
chatted a lot. MTNJ participated in this get together fully
and often asked me to recite an urdu couplet. She talked
mostly in panjaabii. She often asked me, "shaano, please
recite that she'r about the season of the heart [=shaano,
nii oh dil de mausam vaalaa she'r suNaa]". And, to oblige
her, I recited the following:

"laakh sahii ye chaand sii suurat zulf ke Kam hii achchhe
hain

dil kaa mausam achchhaa ho to saare mausam achchhe hain"

[Because of the qaafiaa and radiif rules, it must be "---
Kam achche hain"]. Whenever I recited this she'r, other
people also recited their own favorite couplets. So to say,
my visit of inquiring about her health always turned into an
interesting get together. She is very sad about leaving
laahaur. She often says that she wishes that she could reach
laahaur by flapping her wings. She often brings the
conversation back to laahaur on purpose. Whenever we tried
to distract her from laahaur, she would say, "How can I
forget a city in which I spent all my life?" She would say
to me again and again, "shaano, why don't you take me back
to laahaur?"

shaahiin said that MTNJ's health is somewhat better now. She
is able to read newspapers, listen to music and move around
by herself. MTNJ is a very brave lady. Whenever I expressed
my sadness about her failing health, she would tell me not
to be so sad and would say, "Look, shaano, I am sitting
right in front of you. I am talking to you. I am always very
happy to see you. Please keep visiting me often. You do not
have to feel sad time and again. I have led a full life.
Whenever I remember my bygone days, my journeys from qasuur
to calcutta, calcutta to bombay, bombay to paakistaan, I
thank God that He gave me success after success. I am often
struck by awe at the blessings bestowed upon me by the
Almighty, --- a little girl called allaahrakhii from a small
town called qasuur, became MTNJ. I still remember the day
when, along with my two sisters traveled from laahaur to
calcutta to try my luck. At that time, I was hardly six
years old. In Panjab, people had already liked my
performance on stage. In those days, calcutta was the place
where artists from far and away used to go to try their
luck. And many of them were often successful. This was
probably the year 1932. The talkies had just started and the
theater system existed side by side with films. There,
Master dhuumii Kaan gave me an audition and was astounded at
my voice. In those days, muKtaar begam was very famous. She
too predicted that 'this little girl' will become one day a
great singer. After three or four years, I along with my two
sisters, iidan and haidar baandii, reached calcutta. All
three of us were signed for K. D. Mehra's panjaabii film
"shiilaa" alias "pinD dii ku.Dii [=Village Girl]". In those
days, two of my stage performances were famous. One was a
naat, "hanste hain sitaare yaa shaah-e-madiinaa" and the
other was a panjaabii song, "langh aa jaa pattaN jhanaa.n
daa o yaar". In "shiilaa" I sang my first song.

When Seth Dalsukh M. Pancholi established his studio in
laahaur, he asked all three of us to come there from
calcutta. In 1939, the first movie, "gul bakaavalii" was
released from this studio. People liked my acting as well as
my singing in this movie very much. In this way, I became
accepted in film as well as on stage. After "gul bakaavalii"
came "yamalaa jaTT", in which the title role was played by
M. Ismael. Pran also acted in this film. All of my songs
from this movie were hits with the audience.

After this, in 1942, my film "chaudharii" was released, in
which the central role was played by Gulaam muhammad. At
this time, my age was about 15. The songs of this film also
became very famous, especially, "bas bas ve DholaNaa kii
tere naaL bolaNaa". After this, I signed for the movie
"Kaanadaan" as a heroine. The director of this film was
saiyyad shaukat husain rizvii. After seeing the success of
this film, V. M. Vyas asked both of us to come to bombay.
There I worked in a movie called "naukar". This, also
directed by rizvii, turned out to be a huge flop. In the
meantime, I married director rizvii. In 1944, in bombay, I
acted in two movies, "dost" and "laal havelii". "dost" was
directed by rizvii; he also acted in this movie. In "laal
havelii" surendra acted opposite me. In 1945 my four movies
were released; all four were hits. But the superhit of the
year was "Village Girl", in which I and naziir played
central roles. The music of this film was given by Kyaam
sundar [misprint for shyaam sundar]. All the songs from this
movie were superhits. In 1946, another superhit film of
mine, "anamol gha.Dii" was released. The greatest thing
about this movie was music by naushaad and lyrics by tanviir
naqvii. One song of this movie was a great hit, "aavaaz de
kahaa.n hai duniyaa miri javaa.n hai". In 1947, my own
production, "jugnuu" was my last film in bombay. It was
directed by rizvii. diliip kumaar was my hero in this movie.
This is the movie in which diliip kumaar made a name for
himself and muhammad rafii came to the fore as a singer.
Film "jugnuu" was released after the creation of paakistaan
and it established many records of popularity in the
subcontinent.

In 1947, I came to paakistaan with my husband rizvii because
his real home was in laahaur. rizvii got himself allotted
the shorii studios and had it repaired so as to be able to
start shooting movies there again. [This studio was burned
down during the independence riots.] In 1951, my first film
in paakistaan, "chann ve" was released in Regent cinema in
laahaur. [MTNJ is credited as the director, making her the
first female director of Pakistan.] This movie was a
superhit at the box office. The music of this film was given
by fiiroz nizaamii and all the songs of this film were hits.

In 1953, my film "gulnaar" was released. This was my first
and last film with Master Gulaam haidar in paakistaan. He
was my teacher in film music. I am greatly indebted to him
because he introduced me to film music. I was ten or eleven
years old and my height was not enough to reach the mike. He
made me stand on a stool and recorded my song. [She is
clearly reminiscing.] In 1955, my movie "paaTe Kaan" was
released which was a superhit. In 1956, two of my films were
released, "laKt-e-jigar" and "intezaar". [The movie "laKt-e
jigar" failed at the box office, because another movie with
a very similar story was released first. It was called
"hamiidaa" and starred sabiihaa. Ironically, both were based
on the Indian hit, "vachan". Amazingly, santosh kumaar was
the leading man in both!] In 1957, "nuuraan nabii" [it was
actually "nuuraa.n"], in 1958, "chhuu mantar" and
"anaarakalii" were released which were successes. The music
of "anaarakalii" was given by rashiid attre and Master
inaayat husain. The songs from this movie are still popular
today. In 1959 my three films,
"pardesan", "niind" and "koyal" were released. The movie
"mirzaa Gaalib" [it was actually "Gaalib"] is my last film
[as a actress].

In the meantime, I got separated from rizvii. I had three
children with him, akbar, asGar and zil-e-humaa. After that
I only gave playback, which I continued until three years
ago. [She gave playback for the first time in "jaan-e-
bahaar" (1958) for mussarat naziir, the heroine of ex-
husband rizvii's first movie after their divorce.] I am
thankful to my fans who have always loved me. The greatest
period of my life and the most wonderful singing was during
the 1965 war when my songs were played on radio and TV.
After those songs, I was not only a film singer, but also
became a national and patriotic singer. And I received
awards like "Pride Of Performance" and "tamGaa-e-imtiyaaz".
I also got the nickname of malikaa-e-trannum. The greatest
thing is that all the current leaders of government,
including parvez musharraf have treated me well. As long as
the name of paakistaan is on the world map, by God's grace
my name will remain too."

Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.

Hope, the interviewer could have conducted a longer interview so as to include her enitre life and professional history (though I know that there is so much of information that it is impossible).

I read that Mr. Anwar Masood's sister Fatima Suraiyya Bajiya, once came up with an idea to write a biography on Noor Jehan, but Noor Jehan at that time did not like the idea very much and so there was no concretization of the plan. Wouldn't it have been lovely, a biography on Noor Jehan by Fatima Suraiyya.

What happened to that BBC biography / doc that was supposed to come out last year or before that? Seems to have been delayed indefinitely

Indeed there was supposed to be one released by the British Film Institute (by Nasreen Rehman) at the end of 2003 - still no word !! I have sent a number of emails inquiring about this book, the last one I got said that hopefully the book will be completed by the end of the year (i.e. 2004) ... still no sign !

What I find difficult about writing a biography (when researching for my webpage) is that there are so many inaccuracies out there and so much conflicting information, it is difficult to know what is the truth and what is myth. I am sure I have many inaccuracies on my web page which I will have to revisit and update some day.

good to see that there is still some hope, I had almost given up on British Film Institute folks.

Hey all

Whenever anyone gets any info on the release of that biography, please do post it here.

Thanks in advance.