hen one was growing up in Lahore in the 1950s and ’60s, film score was probably the music most readily available to the common people. It was hummed by many. This included the film music of both India and Pakistan, Initially many films were imported from India and shown on public screens across the country. By mid-1950s a ban has been imposed on the import of Indian films. The ban was demanded by the Pakistani film industry to protect the local industry from one that was much bigger. However, the access to film music found other ways to reach the listening public in Pakistan - through recording discs as well as Indian Sri Lankan radios.

The post-partition generation did not relate to music in the manner that the pre-partition generation did. To the former, it was an organic whole and they related to it as their very own. Those born after partition saw it as foreign. Still, the compulsions of a shared cultural expression were overriding. For those from the pre-partition era, the composers, lyricists, vocalists and instrumentalists were sometimes people they had personally known. Some of them had grown up here or worked here before they left after the partition. Many could identify the neighbourhoods and maktabs where they had lived or studied. In many cases, they were more than mere acquaintances. This personal relationship had another kind of bonding that made nonsense of the division that had appeared on the political/ geographical and cultural map of the land.

The film magazines in Urdu and English often provided fuel for the wayward imagination that the film world ignited. There was hardly any information about Lata Mangeshkar or Mohammed Rafi as the magazine focused mostly on gossip about actors, both male and female. It was only through their persona that one constructed the image and personality of the vocalist. Muhammed Rafi was the rage and many people recounted his days in Lahore. For us, the post-partition generation, he was a superstar and a cut above the rest; so beyond reach. He was seen in the context of show business, the glamour and glitz of the films rather than a musician or a vocalist who had risen from the by-lanes of the Walled City, and the area round Data Darbar; had struggled initially to make a name for himself and then to capitalise on his popularity and stature. As children, it was difficult for us to accept that he had spent his formative years in Lahore. It was with some scepticism that one heard the elders recount his journey and struggles, his performances at various shrines/ melas and his efforts to seek a breakthrough. We always thought this was yarn that had been spun for the credulous and Lahore had nothing, or little, to do with this superstar of film music. This was because many people boasted of knowing those who had become rich and famous. We thought it was in the same tradition of weaving an imaginary lore that was expected to get its share of ready believers and few sceptics.

Only film music was available firsthand because the films were banned and hardly screened outside, except in Afghanistan. Later, the growing Diaspora in several regions made sufficient number for the screening of films outside the subcontinent viable. It started as a miniscule activity in London and some East African countries. So it was Muhammad Rafi’s voice but never his visual image. The face one saw instead was either Dilip Kumar’s or Guru Dutt’s – even Dev Anand’s.

The music scene in Lahore had been quite vibrant and people like Jeevan Lal Mattoo served as connoisseurs and patrons of music in the city. It was in these baithaks and soirees that Mohammed Rafi had picked up the finer aspects from ustads like Abdul Waheed Khan and Chottay Ghulam Ali Khan. Feroz Nizami had introduced him to the radio in Lahore before he made his film debut for Shayam Sunder’s Punjabi film Gul Baloch in 1944. He moved to Bombay and was given a break by Naushad in the film, Pehlaye Aap. He was more noticeable in Anmol Garhi and sang alongside KL Saigal in Shah Jehan, both under the music direction of Naushad. His duet with Noor Jehan in Jugnu, composed by Feroz Nizami, made him a serious contender to fill the vacant slot of the leading male vocalist. He truly arrived as an individual vocalist in Mela where he again sang under the musical direction of Naushad.

The author is a culture critic based in Lahore