Harjap Singh Aujla

Shiraz Sharif comes from a highly cultured and well mannered Urdu speaking family of India. Like one iconic singer of the yore Talat Mahmood, he speaks very softly with utmost “Adab”. In his childhood he saw some of the finest Hindi/Urdu films of India and these films left an indelible mark on his mannerism, memory and good taste. For over a decade, he had been anchoring a show called “ABHI TO MAIN JAWAN HOON” on vintage film music of India on TV Asia, an America based Hindi television channel. Initially the unusual show got a lukewarm response, but by word of mouth the message spread from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico that here was an unassuming soft spoken man playing some of the long forgotten sublime quality songs of Hindustani film industry. This one of a kind musical show clicked with the tastes of the first generation of highly professional immigrants from India, who grew up with this kind of music. This special generation belongs to the fifty five to eighty age group and by dint of their hard work they are financially quite well to do also. This elite group of well qualified technocrats embraced Shiraz Sharif’s show and it helped TV Asia to maintain its high TRP in the face of stiff challenge posed by the finest television channels of India like Sony, Zee TV, Sahara, Colors and B4U.

When TV Asia got another anchor in actress Tabassum, directly from the film industry of India, Mr. Shiraz Sharief became redundant. Penny Sandhu, the owner of Jus Punjabi one day just casually talked to me about Shiraz Sharief and his artistic show. I told her that Shiraz Sharif is not like an exceptionally glamorous girl, who will mesmerize the audience at first sight and keep the audience bound to her show. He is like a slow acting medicine, which will take time to show its impact. I am glad, what I said about Mr. Shiraz Sharief is coming true and Jus Punjabi is also happy to have him on board.

Shiraz Sharief is lucky too. He was not offered an odd day time slot, which the working and studying people cannot watch. In fact the 10:00pm to 11:00pm Eastern Time corresponding to 7:00pm to 8:00pm Pacific Time slot is the second most watchable time slot for any coast to coast simultaneously telecast TV program in North America. It corresponds to a time when the working people are preparing to go to bed on the East Coast and they can have a nice sleep after listening to India’s greatest vintage music. For the other time zones, this slot is a prime time slot, when families sit together and watch TV.

This time slot was originally with Harry Malhotra, who occupied it for three years and left when his program had started receiving a considerable acceptance. Subsequently several permutations and combinations were tried and none worked. Then Bhupinderjeet Kaur Multani, a natural TV broadcaster hailing from the standard Punjabi speaking belt of Punjab popped up on the scene. She was assigned an assorted basket of entertainment programming grouped under an umbrella name “DAILY DOSE”. This maverick program had just started clicking, when the slot was offered to Shiraz Sharief for a program “DIL SE DIL TAK”. I am glad “DIL SE DIL TAK” is attracting some new subscribers also from the Hindi pack.

Coming to the subject of Shiraz Sharief, like me he is an encyclopedia of vintage films of Hindi cinema. He has good working knowledge about the creations of the finest poets of Hindustan like Mirza Ghalib, Daagh Dehlavi, Akbar Allahabadi, Allama Mohammed Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Qateel Shafai, Kaif Irfani, Jigar Moradabadi, Ahmed Faraz, Josh Malihabadi, Shaqeel Badayuni, Noor Lucknawi, D.N. Madhok, Rajinder Krishan, Tanvir Naqvi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shamim Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Qamar Jalalabadi, Mulkh Raj Bhakhri, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Pradeep, J. Naqshab, Jan Nissar Akhtar, Aziz Kashmiri, Aziz Hindi and Qaifi Azmi to name a few. Several of these poets are of Punjabi origin.

Shiraz Sharief has listened to and admired the music of all the stalwart music directors of Hindustani film music starting from Rai Chandra Boral, Timir Baran, Pankaj Mullick, Anil Biswas, Khem Chand Prakash, Sajjad Hussain, Naushad Ali, Hafiz Khan, Iqbal Quraishi, Ghulam Mohammed, Jamal Sen, Snehal Bhatkar, Bulo C. Rani, Sachin Dev Burman, Salil Chaudhry, C. Ramchandra, Ram Ganguli, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Shanker Jaikishan, Vasant Desai, Nashad, Roshan, S.N. Tripathi, Pandit Ravi Shanker, Ravi, Dutta Ram, N. Dutta, Kalyanji Anandji, Lakshami Kant Pyarelal and Rahul Dev Burman to name a few.

I have not yet mentioned the names of some of the finest music directors from the Punjabi community who have been the favorites of Shiraz Sharief and who have contributed immensely to the film music of India. This grand lineup includes the names like Ustad Jhande Khan (the mentor of Naushad), Mr. Rafiq Ghaznavi B.A., Master Ghulam Haider of Amritsar, Khwaja Khursheed Anwar, Pandit Amar Nath, Shyam Sunder, Pandit Gobind Ram, G.A. Chishti, Master Inayat Hussain, Hans Raj Behl, Pandit Husna Lal – Bhagat Ram, Feroze Nizami, Vinod (Eric Roberts), Ustad Alla Rakha Quraishi, Madan Mohan, O.P. Nayyar, Sardul Singh Kwatra, S. Mohinder, Khayyam, Uttam Singh, G.S. Kohli and Usha Khanna to name a few.

Shiraz Sharief has meticulously watched the movies of the finest actors and actresses of the yesteryears. The most prominent amongst the male actors are K.L. Saigal, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Sohrab Modi, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan, Moti Lal. Ashoke Kumar, Dev Anand, Prem Nath, Raj Kumar, Rajinder Kumar, Balraj Sahni, Pradeep Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Kishore Kumar, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Jeetendra, Navin Nischal and Amitabh Bachchan to name a few.

Shiraz Sharief’s favorite actresses have been Khurshid, Kanan Devi, Suraiya, Noorjehan, Naseem Bano, Madhubala, Kamini Kaushal, Nargis, Nutan, Meena Kumari, Shyama, Nimmi, Bina Rai, Vijayanthi Mala, Nirupa Roy, Nadira, Waheeda Rehman, Saira Bano, Asha Parikh, Mumtaz, Zeenat Aman, Raakhi, Rekha, Jaya Bhaduri, Madhuri Dixit, Sri Devi as well as the present crop of highly glamorous leading ladies.

Amongst Shiraz Sharif’s favorite film singers are K.L. Saigal, Khursheed, Noorjehan, Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Kishore, Mohinder Kapoor, Shamshad Begum and Sudha Malhotra to name a few.

Shiraz Sharief has a magic touch. Whatever he presents becomes a hit. He may choose a Raaga, a music director, a poet, a producer or a year for presenting its hit songs, every subject he chooses becomes a hit. How can a person with such impressive credentials and such single handed devotion ever present a mediocre musical program? And this person is Shiraz Sharief. God bless him with a long fulfilling life.