Dev Anand’s Impressionist Years in Punjab
Dev Anand is an icon in Indian film industry. Born in 1924 in Gurdaspur, a district headquarter town in Lahore Division of undivided Province of Punjab. He is in his mid eighties, but is still going strong and healthy. He has never put on excessive weight. Perhaps that is why he has lasted this .....The forgotten Gujjranwallas and Sheikhupurias
In my recent article about the relocation of Lahoria Hindus and Sikhs, I made a mention of where most of them were settled. In this article I shall deal with the tragedy of the Hindus and Sikhs, who were uprooted from the districts of Gujjranwala and Sheikhupura. The Lahorias and the.... A Part of Lahore lives in Amritsar
Every language and every culture has a character and a center, which can be called its fulcrum. For Urdu Culture such a center is Lucknow . As far as Punjabi language and culture are concerned, the center was undoubtedly Lahore . A lot of connoisseurs of Punjabi language believe and ....Shaminder’s Cravings for Duets with Lata
There are very few gramophone discs recorded in the voice of Shaminder. Bhai Shaminder Singh hailed from a wealthy landlord family of Muktsar, a historic town in Southern part of East Punjab. Shaminder was fond of decent music from his childhood and he got his primary ......Talat Mahamood’s Love for Punjabi
Talat Mahmood was a symbol of finesse in manners, language and singing. During good old days, in the Indo-Gangetic plains of Northern India there were three great centers of distinctly different cultures. Calcutta was the home of Bengali culture Lahore was the .........Legendary Singer Surinder Kaur
WE are celebrating the independence days of Pakistan and India in August, but there are bitter memories in the eyes of those who saw the events unfolding at the time of the first independence-day. Surinder Kaur was one such witness to the horrors of partition of the......Husnalal Bhagatram And the Rise of Lata
THERE is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking.....Lata Mangeshkar gave her best under the music
I am experiencing mixed feelings of immense pleasure and deep sadness in compiling this article. The pleasure is born out of the satisfaction that I am experiencing the nostalgia of a treasure of unparalleled Punjabi music that once flowed from the God given vocal chords of Lata......Bhai Santa Singh
AS a child I was used to waking up between 6 and 7am. But on one cold early winter morning of 1948, my mother woke me up at about 4:30am, gave me a bath and made my JooRa (a bun of combed and knotted hair worn by the Sikhs). After I put on new clothes, she took me to the family.....Ghulam Haider: Punjab Pioneering Musician
Master Ghulam Haider was one of the all time greats amongst the pioneering music directors of India. His life story is extremely fascinating. His meteoric rise can be compared to that of a foot soldier, rising to the rank of a general. I was perplexed to know that every write up about him starts....Ghulam Haider: Punjab Pioneering Musician
PRIOR to his first film job, Ghulam Haider was a freelance music director for live music concerts for a few years. Janki Nath Kumar and brothers were a music oriented business family in Lahore. They opened the first electrical music recording studio in the city and a records selling....S. Mohinder: the Soulful Musician
IT was the year 1956, a soulful melody in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar, “Guzra Hua Zamana Ata Nahin Dobara… Hafiz Khuda Tumhara, virtually everyday on the airwaves of All India Radio, Radio Pakistan and Radio Ceylon. It was a song of the sub continent, soulful and haunting. It was....Sardul Kwatra and his Soulful Music
Sometimes I feel that there are several important aspects of the history of Punjab, which have gone unrecorded. Although Punjabi pop music is currently dominating the musical scene of India, yet no one has taken pains to discover the pioneering times of....FAZILKA`S EIFFEL TOWER
Fazilka is a sleepy sub-divisional headquarter on the Southern tip of Ferozepore district close to the border with Pakistan. Before 1947 partition of Punjab, it used to be a thriving business center, but after the creation of Pakistan, it fell on bad days.....VINOD - A BRILLIANT MUSIC DIRECTOR
A yesteryears popular music director of Punjabi films Sardul Singh Kwatra once, who is no more us, once painfully remarked that the Bombay film industry can swing in extremes, at times it can be very generous and at others very cruel. It bows its head before you, if you have a big nametag or....