Khawaja Khurshid Anwar
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Khursheed Anwar the renowned film-maker, writer, director and music composer who hypnotized and mesmerized the music listeners both in India and Pakistan was one of the most original music directors, having developed a musical culture and sensibilty that was all his own.
[edit] Life & Career
Khurshid Anwar was born on 21 March, 1912 in Mianwali (now in Pakistan) where his granfather Khawaja Rahim Baksh held the post of a senior civil servant. His father Khawaja Ferozuddin was a well-known advocate of criminal cases in Lahore. The ace jurist had a love for music so much so that he had a huge collection of gramophone records of Indian classical and neo-classicl music and his precocious son had an un-hindered access to them all. Moreover, in the weekly soirees of music which were held in the lawyer's house, renowned masters used to perform, and it was here that the young Khurshid Anwar developed a taste for classical music, choosing Khansahib Tawakkal Hussain as his mentor. Khurshid Anwar was also a brilliant student at Government College, Lahore, the renowned seat of learning. Having topped in the Masters in Philosophy, he appeared in the examination for Indian Civil service (ICS ) but due to his political and anti-Raj activities, the colonial masters would not let him share power. He therefore joined All-India Radio in 1935 as Programme Producer. Later he was posted as the Producer-in-charge of the music division of the [[All India Radio]at New Delhi. It was from here that he acceded to the requests of A. R. Kardar, the renowned film producer, to resign from radio and join Bombay filmdom as Music direcor. He made his debut as a music director in Kardar's punjabi venture "Kudmai" (1941]. His first Hindi film was "Ishara"(1943]. The film gained much popularity from its songs which included "Panghat pe muraliya baje" by Surayya, "Shabnam kyon neer bahaye" by Gauhar Sultana, and "Dil deke dagha nahin dena" by Vatsala Kumathekar. Some of his other Hindi films were Parakh (1944, with Saraswati Devi), Yateem (1945, with K. Dutta), Aaj Aur Kal (1947), Pagdandi(1947), and Parwaana (1947) which was the last movie in which K. L. Saigal acted, and for which he got the Best Music Director"s award for the yeare, For "Singaar" (1949) he got the Clare Award for Best Music Director. His later films "Nishaana "(1950) and "Neelam Pari" (1952) added new feathers to his cap. In recognition of his contribution in enrichment film music, the Bombay film industry awarded him the coveted Mortal-Men-Immortal-melodies Award (1983).
Khurshid Anwar migrated to Pakistan in 1952. It was in fact his arrival in a newly-independent land where the nation was in search of its expressions in arts especially in music. And it was here in 1956 that Khurshid Anwar gave Pakistani film music its identity through his magnum opus "Intezar". The film also gave a new lease of life to Noor Jehan, his lead singer for the years to come. After, Intezar", Khurshid Anwar continued with his stylistic creations in films such as "Mirza Sahiban (1956), "Zehre Ishq" (1958), " Jhoomer (1959), "Koel" (1959), "Ayyaz (1961) , "Ghunghat (1962) , " Haveli (1964)' "Chingari "(1964), "Sarhad (1966) , "Hamraz (1967) , "Guddo "(1970) ,"Heer Ranjha (1970),"Salam E Mohabat" (1971), " Parai Aag "(1971) "Shireen Farhad "(1975), "Haider Ali" (1979), and "Mirza Jat"(1982).
Khurshid Anwar also a gifted writer and film director:
Filmography as a Writer : Hamraz (1967) (dialogue) (screenplay) (story) Chingari (1964) (screenplay) (story) Ghunghat (1962) (screenplay) (story) Jhoomer (1959) (screenplay) (story) Zehr E Ishq (1958) (screenplay) (story) Intezar (1956) (screenplay) (story) Filmography as a Director: Hamraz (1967) Chingari (1964) Ghoonghat (1962).
Filmography as a Producer Hamraz (1967) (co-producer) Chingari (1964) (co-producer) Ghunghat (1962) (co-producer) Jhoomer (1959) (producer) Zehr E Ishq (1958) (co-producer) Intezar (1956) (co-producer)
Khurshid anwar died on 30 October, 1984 in Lahore after a protracted illness.
