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'She was called Mallika-e-Tarannum Noorjehan'

Sharmila Taliculam

Naushad, well known music composer of yesteryears, gets nostalgic about Noorjehan -- rustic voice of Pakistan.

I don't remember exactly when I first met Noorjehan.

It was much before the Partition of course, when she was singing in India. She was working in Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi along with Surinder Nath and Suraiya.

That was when I was first introduced to her. I was recording the song Jawa Hai Mohabbat, Hasin Hai Zamana, set in Raga Pahadi.

I was just told the story, the situation of the film and asked to record the song on the lyrics given to me. The recording was in Tardeo at National Studio which is the airconditioned market now.

She liked the tune very much when I first played it for her. She even complimented me in front of Mehboobsaab. This was good for me because when I started giving music in films, she was already a big name. Her words carried weight and that helped me a lot.

She sang for a lot of films for me. And she gave me lot of respect whenever she would sing Aawaz de kahan hai in every concert she had.

Her first film was Khandaan, in which she also acted. Her husband Shaukat Husain Rizvi also made many films for her. She acted with Dilip Kumar in Jugnu too.

She was a very warm and friendly person. At the same time, she was very mischievous person also.

In fact while recording Aawaz De Kahan Hai, we had only one microphone. So she would stand on one side and Surinder Nath stood on the other.

Surinder Nath was a very timid man. A thorough gentleman and he never could take Noorjehan's mischief in stride. What she would do is sing her lines and instead of turning away, she would stare right into Surinder Nath's face, making him nervous!

He could stand it no longer so he came to me and requested me to ask her to turn away once she finished singing her lines. She laughed then and did what as I asked her to do. She had certain innocence when she played such pranks on her colleagues, but they didn't mind it because they liked her very much.

She missed her Bombay friends a lot. Recently when we both were in America, she called me up and cried that she misses her old house in Chowpatty and her friends here.

She always kept in touch even though she went away to Pakistan. For an artiste there are no boundaries. So even if she was in Pakistan she was always remembered here as she remembered us.

Whatever she sang whether it was Mere Bachchpan Ke Saathi Mujhe Bhool Na Jaana, Aaja Meri Barbaad Mohabbat Ke Sahare, Aawaz De Kahan Hai, she sang with certain flair and she sang them in all her concerts.

She may not have felt the respect for my songs, but I did feel her respect for me when she sang them. She accorded me that unknowingly and I would be very grateful for that.

Though she has gone away now, I will always hope that her soul rests in peace. She has given us her golden voice and that is why she was called Malaika-e-tarannum Noorjehan.

I am sure all her fans all over the world will miss her. So will I. Nobody can forget her.