Usually child prodigies fade out very early, but Madam Noorjehan was a life long successful singer.

Madam was basically a singer-actress in India and Pakistan. She was the top-most singer-actress of her time.

Early Life and Early Career

Madam Noorjehan was born on 21 December, 1926 as Allah Wasai in Kasur, Punjab, British India. She took birth in a family of musicians, her parents being Madad Ali and Fateh Bibi. From the age of five, she could accurately immitate the songs of that time. At the age of 6, she learnt the Patiala style of Hindustani Classical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khanji. Her ideal singer Mukhtar Begumji advised her and her two sisters to act in films, seeing her singing talent. Her first film was Pind di kudi / Sheela (1935) in Punjabi in which she had a small role, and acted with her sisters Eiden Bai and Haider Bandi. This film was the first Punjabi film of the subcontinent and became an immediate hit, and it was made when her family moved to Calcutta. She then got the stage name Baby Noorjehan. She played small roles in other films like Missar ka sitara in 1935, Mr. and Mrs Bombay and Naari raaj in 1936, Fakhr-e-Islam and Tarn Haar and Mr. 420 and Heer Sayal in 1937, Namumkin and Sassi punnoon and Imperial mail in 1938. She got more prominent roles in Gul bakavli (1939), Yamla jatt (1940) and Chowdhri (1941) all in Punjabi. In Gul bakavli she sang her first song ‘Shala Jawaniyan Mane’ in her melodious voice, under the music director Ghulam Haider. The film and particularly the song became famous soon. In Yamla Jatt she sang the song ‘ Babul Mein Balihari Ve Chal ‘ and in Chowdhri she sang ‘Bas bas ve dholna’ which became extremely popular.

Career in Bollywood as a Singer – Actress

For the first time in 1942, Madam was cast as the leading lady in the Urdu movie Khandan opposite Pran, who later became a popular villain in movies. The phrase ‘baby’ was cut off from her stage name. The song ‘ Tu Kaunsi Badli Mein Mere Chand Hai Aaja’ sung by her became very popular. She married the director of the film, Syed Shaukat Hussain Rivi. She then went to Mumbai.

Then she acted in many movies as a heroine, like Duhai and Naukar and Nadan in 1943, Dost and Lal Haveli in 1944. She became renowned among the audiences now for her acting and singing. Later, she was the heroine of films like Badi Maa and Bhaijaan and Gaon ki Gori and Zeenat in 1945, Dil and Anmol Ghadi and Humjoli in 1946 and Jugnu and Mirza Sahiban in 1947. The songs of  the films Nadan and Naukar became very popular. She played the second lead in the film Naukar. She shared melodies with the singing star Shanta Apte in Duhai, and also lent her voice to another actress, Husn Bano. In Dost she acted opposite Motilal and in Lal Haveli her leading man was Surendra; both these films and their songs became hits. In Badi Maa, Baby Lata Mangeshkar and Baby Asha Mangeshkar acted as child stars. Madam predicted that Lataji would later become a great singer. It was clear that Madam Lata’s earlier songs had Madam Noorjehan’s influence. She later went on to become one of India’s greatest singers and to this day addresses Noorjehan as her ‘Didi’, elder sister with respect. Lata and Dilip Kumar later recieved her in Mumbai, as she resided in Pakistan. The song ‘Kis tarah bhoolega dil’ in the film Gaon ki Gori became a superhit. The film Zeenat was perhaps her greatest hit in that year. She not only won the best actress award for it, but got her popular title of ‘Malika-e-Tarannum’, meaning queen of melody after singing the song ‘Bulbulo Mat Ro Yahan’. The film also boasts of the first ever female Qawwali in Indian Cinema, ‘Aahen Na Bhari, Shikven Na Kiye’ which she sang with two other famous singers of her time, Zohrabaiji and Kalyani Mitraji. Her greatest film in the year 1946, and perhaps her most famous film in India was Anmol Ghadi, creating a sensation among the audience with its songs composed by music director Naushad and besides her, there were two other singing stars-Surendraji and Suraiyaji. It made the other films of her released in that year, namely Dil, Humjoli and Sofia seem pale in comparison. The film Jugnu in the next year was also a great hit. Her leading man in the film was Dilip Kumarji, who was then a rising star, and this film made him very popular. So we could thank Madam and her husband for bringing up such a great Bollywood singer and actor, Rafi lent his voice to Dilip Kumar in many later films. Noorjehan and Dilip Kumar became good friends and met each other again in the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Talkie where Dilip Kumar introduced Noorjehan. She even chose him and Pran as her best hero in a BBC UK interview which I saw in Youtube(thanking the uploader). Mirza Sahiban was her last film in India in which she acted with Trilok Kapoor, Prithviraj Kapoor’s elder brother. She then went to Pakistan.

Career in Pakistan as singer and actress

In 1951, Madam directed the film Chanway in Punjabi with her husband, and became the first female film director of Pakistan. She then made several other great hits like Dupatta in 1952, Gulnar in 1953, Lakht-e-Jigar and Intezar in 1956, Anarkali in 1958, Neend and Pardesan and Koel in 1959, Ghalib in 1961 and her last film as a singer-actress in Pakistan was Baaji in 1963. She then divorced Rizvi and married a Pakistani actor, Ejaz Durrani. Then she divorced even Ejaz due to some reasons, and now had six children- three by Rizvi and three by Durrani. She concentrated on playback singing now. Her famous song ‘Mujhse Pehli si Mohabbat’ in Qaidi, 1962 was sensational. She then sang many renowned melodies in hit films like Mauseqar, Laakhon mein ek, Sawal, Mirza Jatt, Dosti, Nag Muni, Heer Ranjha, etc. She sang many famous Pakistani patriotic songs in the 1965 war. She recieved the greatest Pakistani civil award ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ meaning Pride of Performance in 1966. In 1982 she went to India to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Talkie and met Prime Minister Madam Indira Gandhi In New Delhi.

Last Years

Madam was on a visit to North America in 1986 and had chest pains. Suffering a heart attack, she was hospitalized in Karachi and passed away on December 23, 2000 of heart failure. Her funeral was at Jamia Masjid Sultan, Karachi. Although she is not present now, she is immortal, leaving behind her beauty, unrivalled acting and authentic and incomparable singing. Source

Tassawar Khanum was born in Karachi, Pakistan. During her childhood she was a neighbor of singer Pervaiz Mehdi who was a good friend of her father. She and her father would often go Pervaiz Mehdi’s house him whilse he was practicing. It was Pervaiz Mehdi who asked her father to ensure that Tassawar received an education in music after he overheard her copying him while he practiced. After this she began to take music lessons with sarangi nawaz Ustadd Butta Ali Khan.

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