Nostalgic memories of G M Durrani

After the introduction of playback singing in Indian cinema after 1935 only one male voice dominated the film world,.G.M. Durrani. Playback singing in the films came as a relief for film actors, who in those days were required to croon songs filmed on them in their own voices despite the fact that many among them did not have any musical talent.
It was then that singer G. M. Durrani became the most sought after artiste among composers of film songs. Almost all songs filmed on actors in Indian films were recorded in the voice of the Peshawar born vocalist.
My first exposure to the voice of Ghulam Muhammad Durrani, the Peshawar-born playback singer, was in 1941. The song 'Dil enj enj karda' in J.K. Nandar's Punjabi film 'Kurmai, produced under the banner of Nishat Productions from Bombay was recorded in the voice of G.M. Durrani. Composed by Khurshid Anwar, the song became an instant hit and was hummed and whistled by the cine-goers, especially in the Punjab, and also played by brass bands of Lahore, which headed wedding processions in the city for many years.
Popularly known as G.M. Durrani, the debutant playback singer had started his career from All India Radio, Peshawar and Lahore stations soon after the advent of this electronic medium in the late 1930s. His radio songs were much appreciated by the listeners.
Learning about the sonic depth, richness and enchantment of his voice, composers of the time used his vocal potentials for the recording of their film songs. The composers were looking for some good voices to record their compositions in the movies produced from Lahore and Bombay.
In Calcutta, the leading members of the cast in the films were good singers as well and the composers relied on their voices and did not look around for new voices. There was no need for them to replace the voices of the artistes playing leading roles in the films produced from Calcutta.
Other known voices of the Urdu films of those days, which were used for the recording of film songs were S.D. Batish in Lahore and Chitlarkar Ramchander in Bombay.
For a number of years after the release of the first Urdu sound motion picture 'Alam Ara' in March 1932 in Bombay, the personae dramatists in the movies were required to croon songs that were to be filmed on them. The male singing stars of those days included K.L. Saigal, Surrendar and Pahari Saniyaal.
Actors Ashok Kumar, W.M. Khan, Mazhar Khan, Amer (Nazar Mohyuddin) and even Mirza Musharraf lent their voices for the recording of songs that were shot on them in the movies. A number of composers of the like of Ramchander, Master Ghulam Haider and S.D. Burman also recorded their compositions in their own voices because of the non-availability of suitable voices to convey the thrust of their songs.
The beginning of the decade of 1940s witnessed the emergence of a number of male (and female) playback singers, whose malleable voices added much to the impact of film songs. Pioneer among them was G.M. Durrani, who became a tuneful symbol of the burgeoning Indian cinema and also of national integration.
The music, which cascaded through his powerfully mellifluous voice, was soulful and haunting. It was much before Muhammad Rafi, Talat Mahmud and Mukesh made their debuts in the Bombay-based film industry. Almost all the male songs in the films produced from Lahore and Bombay were recorded in the voice of G.M. Durrani, who became the number one crowd pulling playback singer of Sub-continental cinema.
Songs recorded in the voice of G.M. Durrani raised him to an aural pedestal all his own. Of his popular songs, which readily comes to are 'Dil anj anj karda' (composer Khurshid Anwar in the Punjabi film 'Kurmai'), 'Duniya Mein sub jore jore' (composer Naushad in the film 'Namastay') 'Neend hamari khaab tumarey' (composer Shyam Sunder in the film 'Nai Kahani'), 'Ek yaad kisi ki yaad rahi' (composer Master Ghulam Haider in the film 'Shama'), 'Haath seenay pay jo rakh do to qarar aa ja aye' (composer Pundit Amar Nath in the film 'Mirza Sahiban') and 'eh qafilay waley' (composer Qadir Faridi in the film 'Rehana').
Before his fame began to eclipse G.M. Durrani recorded songs for scores of films under the combined weight of highly sonorous voices of Muhammad Rafi, Talat Mahmud and Mukesh.
Leading composers showed indifference and started avoiding him, thus choking the only source of his income. For a while, Durrani performed some minor roles in a number of films to keep his body and soul together, but as this source of income was not regular and reliable, he could not persist with these minor acting chores.
If memory serves me right, the once tumultuously popular singer of the Sub-continental cinema died in 1995 in a state of utter penury, unnoticed and unsung by the film industry for whose evolution and progress G.M. Durrani had contributed so much. Such is the fate of many a celebrity of film world, who did not care much for maintaining fiscal discipline in their incomes during the heydays of their career, when they earned money in abundance.
In Pakistan, too, a large number of artistes associated with film industry have met the same fate.
They have or still are languishing in the murk of obscurity and abject poverty during the evenings of their lives because of their imprudent lifestyles during the height of their career. They did not save enough to support their existence after their voluntary or forced retirement from the glitze world of entertainment.
Durrani is still remembered with much nostalgic fondness by senior denizens who enjoyed scores of songs he recorded for the films.