Ghulam Mustafa Durrani (1919 – 8 September 1988; sometimes known as G. M. Durrani) was an Indian radio drama artist, playback singer, actor and music director.
Singer in many languages Ghulam Mustafa Durrani was fond of music since childhood and was a radio drama artist and full-time singer of Lahore station, Delhi station and Mumbai station of AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)) at a salary of Rupees 70 per month. His native language was Pashto, but he had a strong command over Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages. He sang in many Indian languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto language in Indian movies in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. After the 1950s, Durrani sang very few songs. Durrani was the disciple of radio broadcaster Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, and Durrani also called Rafiq Ghaznavi 'my Guru'.
To his credit, he tried to create his own identity as a playback singer and tried not to follow the then popular K. L. Saigal style of singing. Durrani was notable for sad songs, romantic songs, patriotic songs, Qur'an khawani, Qawwalis, Ghazals and Bhajans. He was also one of the first Muslim singers to sing Hindu devotional songs.
Early life Ghulam Mustafa Durrani was born in Peshawar, British India in 1919. He was a Pathan (Pashtuns) and belonged to the Mohammad Zai tribe. He should not be confused as a direct descendant or have any relation with Ahmad Shah Durrani – founder of Afghanistan.
Family His mother died when he was very young. His father was educated and of artistic mind, but very strict, and the only ally at the home was his loving grandmother. But she could also not protect him from his father's anger.
Marriage
Durrani married actress Jyoti (real name was Sitara Begum). Jyoti was the younger sister of actress Wahidan, who acted in many movies, including Alibaba. Wahidan's daughter Nimmi was to become a big actress in the 1950s, too.
Career
In Peshawar The last job Durrani did in Peshawar was at a painter's shop where an artist always used to hum the tunes of the songs composed by highly respected Composer and Actor Rafiq Ghaznavi. He also started imitating those songs and got appreciation from the colleagues which inspired him. Durrani started practising Rafiq Ghaznavi's songs and assumed him as his master. During this time, his father took him to another job at his uncle's motor-part shop. But the artist within didn't stay long there and Durrani ran away from home to Lahore, with only 22 rupees in his pocket.
In Lahore In Lahore, Durrani did odd jobs along with singing on radio. This brought him fame and passion for radio singing which took him to Delhi first, then to Bombay. He came to Bombay (now Mumbai) on 14 April 1935. In Mumbai, he somehow got a job at Mumbai Radio Station, and from there he got recognition. Filmwallahs started calling on him to sing.
In Mumbai
His singing career started from AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)). Durrani was discovered by film producer Sohrab Modi, when he was approximately 16 years old. Modi gave him his first chance around 1935 or 1936 in the movie Said-e-Havas, a historical under the music director, classical musician Bundu Khan, popularly known as "Taan-Talwar" Bundu Khan. It was a ghazal, whose words were:
"Mastonko shem farz hai peena Sharab ka,gutti mein meri padh gaya qatara sharab ka"
The English Translation of this Ghazal: "The happy-go-lucky people imbibe liquor for euphoria but I drink because my first morsel of food had a drop of liquor in it."
In Delhi
When Durrani came to Bombay, the playback system was not there, and one had to act on-screen. He didn't like running around trees and refused to work further. He faced a lot of difficulties and could not return as people would call him a "Kanjar". Minerva was to close down soon, too. He soon joined the Delhi Radio Station of AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)) and later quit this job on 31 December 1940.
Durrani was working at the Delhi Radio Station where he got acquainted with poet Behzad Lucknavi, whose many ghazals had been sung by Mallika-e-Ghazal (Queen of Ghazals) Begum Akhtar.
Shift to Mumbai He later shifted to the Mumbai Radio Station where he met a big personality at the time, whom he considered one of his ustads (master), Station Director of Bombay station of AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)), Baba-e-Nasharayat (Father of Broadcasting) Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, who helped the radio station advance. Durrani called Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari "Ustad", to honour him. (Z. A. Bukhari, was the Station Director of Delhi station and Bombay station of AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)). After the Partition of India and creation of Pakistan, Bukhari was made first director-general of Radio Pakistan (Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation) and later, he served as general manager of PTV (Pakistan Television Corporation)).
G. M. Durrani's salary was soon fixed at Rs. 40 per month. Here, he was working as a 'Drama Artist'. He was soon counted as one of the best drama artists on the radio at that time. Over a period of three years, his salary had gone up to Rs. 70 per month. But fate would soon call him back to films.
Later, in 1939–40, when the concept of playback singing started, he was the first to lend his voice for a film titled Bahurani. The film was made by Sagar Movietone and its music director was Rafiq Ghaznavi. Durrani was then working as a full-time Singer in AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)). Those were British days and they were not allowed to do any private recordings. But Ghaznavi insisted. Durrani laid down some conditions, like; the recording should be fixed on a Sunday night so that no outsiders would be allowed to enter the studio. Secondly, he said that his name shouldn't appear in credit titles or on discs. The song was a duet with Miss Rose, an Anglo-Indian, who didn't have much experience as a singer. He was paid Rs. 75 for the song as against his salary of Rs. 70 a month at AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)). He then chucked his job on 31 December 1940 and decided to concentrate fully on his film career.
Thereafter, he sang for, among others, noted music directors such as Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, his friend Naushad, Shankar Rao Vyas and A. R. Qureshi, (Better known as Alla Rakha, Pandit Ravi Shanker's famous tabla accompanist), for films like Mirza Ghalib, Humlog, Magroor, Shama, Namaste, Sabak and scores of others. He became very popular. Many singers started their careers with him and he inspired many others too.
He was the idol of Mohammed Rafi, who imitated him in the early days. In fact, in 1944, Rafi recorded what he considered his first Hindi language song for the film Gaon ki Gori (1944) for Shyam Sunder, "Aji Dil Ho Kaaboo Mein To Dildaar Ki Aisi Taisi", with G. M. Durrani and chorus.
Geeta Dutt also started her career in her breakthrough movie, Do Bhai, with the song "Aaj Preet Ka Naata Toot Gaya", a duet with G. M. Durrani, for S. D. Burman.
Similarly, "Haye Chorre Ki Jaat Badi Bewafa", a duet with G. M. Durrani, was Lata's first song for composer, Naushad.
Durrani has sung many songs during his career. His output later reduced. According to one story, he was influenced not to sing for some time after his Hajj visit and Rafi then helped him get back to singing, but by then his career was over. Music composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, in his first film, Kurmai (Punjabi-1941) took Durrani as his assistant and later gave him the film Angoori (1943) as music director.
Popularity In the period of K. L. Saigal, Surinder, Khan Mastana and G.M. Durrani were also famous. G. M. Durrani was one of the 40s famous playback singers. Durrani tried to make his own identity as a playback singer and not try to follow the K. L. Saigal style of singing. G. M. Durrani was a legendary Bollywood playback singer. His singing style was to inspire Rafi and others in the years to come. Later G. M. Durrani became a model to many playback singers who followed. The soulful renditions of Durrani were to be reminded of by Talat's singing as well.
Mohammed Rafi was influenced most notably, by G. M. Durrani, on whose style he based his singing. He sang with his idol in some of the songs such as "Humko Hanste Dekh Zamana Jalta Hai" (Hum Sab Chor Hain, 1956) and "Khabar Kisi Ko Nahiin, Woh Kidhar Dekhte" (Beqasoor, 1950).
G. M. Durrani considered that his first famous song was "Duniya Mein Sab Jode Jode" in the film Sharda (1942), composed by Naushad.
The song "Neend Hamaari Khwaab Tumhaare Kitne Meethe Kitne Pyaare", that made him a real rage, was however, composed by Shyam Sundar, for his movie Nai Kahani. This song, sung mostly by G. M. Durrani, with some support by child-star Balakram was playing everywhere. When he sang this song, the listeners went crazy. This timeless melody can never be forgotten by fans of Indian Cinema.
Nearly 40 years later, when Tata Oil Mills did a program, Mortal Men Immortal Melodies, to celebrate fifty years of talkies in India, they invited him to re-render the song. Although many had forgotten him, his voice was still great and he got applause for it.
Filmography
As actor Mumtaz Mahal (1957) (Director – Ram Daryani) Bhola Shikaar (1958) (Director – Akkoo) Bhumika (1977) (Director – Shyam Benegal, Producers – Lalit Mohan Bijlani, Freni Variava) Hum Log (1951) Aasman (1952) Yaad (1942) Ardhangini (1959) State Express (1938) Qismat Palat Ke Dekh Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi Jawab Aayega Kaise Kahun (1964) (Director – Atma Ram, Producer – Ram Bellara) Zamana Badal Gaya Baghi Haseena Shree Krishna Bhakti (1955) Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye Lal Patthar (1971) (Director – Sushil Majumdar, Producer – F. C. Mehra, Eagle Films) Love & God Besharam (1978) (Director – Deven Verma, Producer – Deven Verma) Teesra Kaun (1965) (Director – Mohammed Hussain, Producer – B. D. Kapoor)
As singer
As music director The legendary Filmmaker, writer, Director and Music composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar took G. M. Durrani in his first film, Kurmai (Punjabi-1941) as his assistant.
Durrani also assisted his friend Naushad for his movies around this time and big break for him was coming soon in the form of the movie Nai Duniya (1942).
G. M. Durrani composed the songs in these films:
Vijay Laxmi (1943) Barto Sudeshi Bano Sudeshi (Singer – G. M. Durrani, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Chale Charan More Kunjan Ki Ore (Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Hum Jaan Gaye Re (Singer – Rajkumari, Music Director – G.M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Is Bekaraar Dil Ko (Singer – Rajkumari, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Koi Aaya Chamak Uthi (Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Matlab Hai Mil Jaane Se (Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Uyi Main Lut Gayi (Singer – Zohrabai, G. M. Durrani, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Ye Naina Bade Deewane (Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricists – Neelkanth Tiwari, Kailash Matwala, J. S. Kashyap) Angoori (1943) Aa Kar Le Mann Ka Mol (Singers – G. M. Durrani & Rajkumari, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist – Rammurti Chaturvedi) Angoori Angoori Pyaala (Singer – A. D. Kunwar, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist – Rammurti Chaturvedi) Jeet Liyo Jeet Liyo Jeet Liyo Re (Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist-Rammurti Chaturvedi) Kaahe Tihar Jiya Daale (Singers – Various, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist – Rammurti Chaturvedi) Loot Liyo Re (Singers – Various, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist – Rammurti Chaturvedi) Man Hai Ek Paheli (Singer – G. M. Durrani, Music Director – G. M. Durrani, Lyricist – Rammurti Chaturvedi)