Details

Published: 08 August 2014

Last Updated: 08 August 2014

Assistant Music Directors in India

Khurshid Anwar composed music for 10 films in India , 8 in Mumbai and 2 in Lahore( before partition). Except for Gadekar, others just worked under him for one film each.

Copyright Khwaja Khurshid Anwar Trust
and Irfan Anwar who provided this material.
Please send your comments and suggestions to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Published: 08 August 2014

Last Updated: 08 August 2014

HEER RANJHA First rate punjabi musical

Reviewed by Q. Z. MALIK

CREDITS: Banner: Punjab Pictures. Producers: Ejaz and Masud Pervez. Director: Masud Pervez. Story and Screenplay: Ahmad Rahi. Music: Kh. Khurshid Anwar. Songs. Ahmad Rahi: Dialogues: Ahmad Rahi, Audiography: C. Mandodi. Photography: Masudur Rehman. Cast: Firdos Ejaz, Zammurd, Salma Mumtaz, Rangeela, Munawar Zareef, Aqeel, Ilyas Kashmiri and Ajmal. Released in June 1970

Producer-Director Masud Parvez and music wizard Khurshid Anwar are back in splendid form. Together they have scored again; and this time it is Waris Shah's 'Heer Ranjha'. Between them, these two proven artists and craftsmen have made a colour film version of the romantic classic that, despite a few slips, is a worthy tribute to its creator.

The film begins in the form of a fantasy the director's conception of the Quranic injunction that matches are made in Heaven. It is quite a beautiful sequence and the rendering of Waris Shah's verses in the background, preceding the sequence and during it, adds considerably to its impact.

The actual story opens in Ranjha's village with Ranjha romping about, teasing the girls and breaking their pitchers. With Ranjha's carefree and romantic character established, the story gathers momentum.

Event after event occurs at a brisk pace and the story races to the thundering climax sequence that fades out in a final touch of fantasy.

The director keeps a steady hold on the audience and in this he is ably assisted by the camera work, the acting, the editing and the music. Picturisation of the song-cum-dance sequences, particularly those on Firdous, is very good. Despite not being of the crude and vulgar type seen in the usual run of Punjabi pictures, they draw spontaneous applause.

Dwelling on picturisation one cannot help mentioning the sequence of a song on Firdous, at the end of which Masud Parvez Frames a `diya' and the full moon. It is a beautifully artistic touch that gives added meaning and depth to the situation. That this little touch draws cheers from he audience is ample evidence that our cinemagoers appreciate and welcome the subtle and the artistic.

On the whole, Masud Parvez has done a fine job, but there are a few slips. For example, the song-and-dance sequences featuring a lot of village girls, the background prop in the roof-top sequences, Heer's dresses and jewellery, particularly those she dons before her marriage, the fight sequence on Ranjha, Ranjha's hiding under a basket that could hardly cover a child, Heer's imbecile husband, etc. Such weak-points in a Masud Parvez's film are surprising. His major, or basic, slip is that he has not given adequate attention to the mystic aspect of the classic, which basically portrays the conflicts between the body and the soul.

A lesser flaw is the abrupt occurrence of the tragedy. This particular sequence could have been developed with more telling affect.

Khurshid Anwar has found his best form again. Both in the tunes, and the back ground music he is in top form. His music in fact is the chief highlight of the picture.

On the histrionics side, Ajmal dominates. He has put over a first-rate performance.

Firdous has done well as Heer. Colour is flattering to her, but one wishes the big closes on her had been avoided or their angle changed to cover the hairline of her upperlip.

Ijaz manages to do well in the romantic sequences but when it comes to portraying a tortured soul, he is less than convincing. For this he has to thank the limited range of expressions and gestures that he employs in almost every film. But most of all, it is the fact that he has put on. It is particularly unbecoming when he dons the 'Jogi's' garb.

Rangeela, in a brief appearance, has done so well that in one sequence he almost overshadows an acting giant like Ajmal.

Munawar Zarif is one of the film's major disappointments. One is tired of seeing him do and say the same things over and over again. And his over-acting makes him more unbearable.

Ahmed Rahi's dialogue is nice, forceful and witty but at places he falls to the pedestrian level dictates of the `box-office' or `popular taste' perhaps. His songs, almost all of them, are first-rate.

'Heer Ranjha' is a creditable effort that is head and shoulders above its predecessors. It is film, that; minus the village girls' song-and-dance sequences and a careful pruning of Munawar Zarif, can be exported to any foreign market with confidence and a measure of pride.

In a way it is a milestone, for it has not only set a new and laudable trend in Punjabi films but has also brought Khurshid Anwar and Masud Parvez together again. It revives the memory of `Intezar', `Zer-i-Ishq,' `Jhoomar' and `Koel' and one hopes that these two gifted film-makers will stay together and give cinema goers many more like them.

Details

Published: 08 August 2014

Last Updated: 08 August 2014

HAMRAZ A clean and well made film

CREDITS: Banner: Auriga Pictures. Produ- cers: Sh. Abdur Rashid and Kh. Khurshid Anwar. Director: Kh. Khurshid Anwar. Story and Screenplay. Kh. Khurshid Anwar. Music: Kh. Khurshid Anwar. Dialogues: Kh. Khur- shid Anwar. Songs: Qateel Shifai. Photogra- phy: Nabi Ahmad. Audiography: S. Afzal Husain. Cast: Shamim Ara, Mohammad Ali, Nabila, Lehri, Tariq Aziz, Meena Shorie, Rangeela, Changezi, Ajmal and Talish.

Released in November 1967

KHURSHID ANWAR'S `Hamraz' provides an excellent example of a film artist's ability to make a clean and engaging film even when compelled to compromise in the selection of theme. Hamraz is a thriller, but vastly differ- ent from the thrillers made in Pakistan be- cause the characters symbolise the contest for supremacy in a cognisable social system. Moreover, having set this story going the writer does not try to introduce everything considered essential for a thriller but follows the demands of the characters and their interests, incorporating only such action as is compatiable with them.

Briefly, the film describes a conflict generated by a man's demoniacal lust for possession and power which he disguises as a mission to preserve the values inherited from his feudal forefathers, and for whose gratification he does not hesitate to intrigue and kill. Some of the people who come in his path are ruthlessly felled, some escape by sheer ingenuity, and over them all rules the natural laws of balance and retribution. The story began long ago, perhaps when the Nawab of Qaisarabad died and left the jagir to his three sons, one of them a sophisticated mixture of Macbeth and Richard III. The film begins when both of his brothers have died, one leaving an imbecile (who, quite suggestively, sports a cowboy costume and constantly plays double agent), and the other leaving two girls (again, suggestively. one fond of teddy culture and the other fond of traditional dress and music). He draws up a plan to do away with all these claimants to the family throne and almost succeeds but for the intervention of a young doctor. who takes a stand against evil largely because his conscience rejects it and to a lesser extent because he likes one of the girls marked for liquidation.

The writer starts telling the story from the point of view of the doctor he finds a mys- terious girl on the road, she disappears, and when he tried to follow up the trail he lands himself in the thick of the plot. The writer then reveals some facts to the audience (the doctor is not taken into confidence) but the essential part of the mystery unravelled by the doctor and the audience simultaneously. This is one of the better known techniques for treating a mystery and the director exploits it to the maximum advantage. Quite frequently one feels that he is trying to invest his characters with symbolic value as repre- sentatives of sociocultural trends in our society. But skilfully written though the screenplay is, somewhere along the line a link is suppressed and the average spectator is likely to find some questions unanswered.

A usual with Khurshid Anwar's films, he tries to weave music and relief into the plot. If you remove a song, you destroy a link. Even when the leading lady goes out to dance her movements help the doctor to get rid of an illusion. Such sequences and the firm handling of the artistes make `Hamraz' very much a director's picture, particularly in the last scenes when some ghastly business is so delicately handled that the spectator feels its impact without being shown repulsive details. On the whole the artistes have responded commendably. Shamim Ara excels in the dual role, remaining faithful to both the girls -- she portrays. Mohammad Ali looks relaxed after a long time. Talish is his confident self and Rangila has a role tailored for him. Tariq Aziz has not been able to decide when a worldly-wise professional ceases to be flippant. As for the musical score, it seems the demands of the story have considerably affected the compositions but Khurshid Anwar preserves his style and at least two of the compositions are outstanding. The techni- cal values are adequate Nabi Ahmed's work behind the camera is excellent.