Madam Noor Jehan, we let her live however she wanted to and she still lives within us, her spirit and compassion
EMI Pakistan Ltd, Pakistan’s premiere record label since 1948, presents ‘Gul-e-Daudi’ (The Chrysanthemum): In Tribute to Noor Jehan”.
EMI Pakistan Ltd, Pakistan’s premier record label presented a short , fifteen minutes film directed by Umar Riaz.
‘Gul-e-Daudi’ a fictional story based on the music of Madam Noor Jehan was specially aired on 23rd September in a private cinema hall in remembrance and celebration of the legend birthday.
Umar Riaz took to the ways of the silent movies and incorporated synchronised sounds into the love story between the young boy and girl who grow up from their child to adulthood. A sweet and sad story of the pair added with the affect of the graceful voice of Madam Noor Jehan. The songstress could capture our hearts back then and even now with that powerful emotional voice, that can leave you mesmerised.
While talking to the audience at the screening the director said that the idea for the film initially was just that, an idea that had popped into his mind while he was going through the changes in his life as well somewhere in his twenties.
“Everyone around me was either getting married or divorced, creating or losing a life. This gave me a view on the life of sorts, to what had been lost and gained, ” he added.
It took nine months and amateur actors (for some it was a first time) that created an idea into what from today will be known as beautiful memoir to ‘Malika-e-Tarannum.’ Beautiful and amazing, this is a huge feat for someone to have a chance at and be able to accomplish. The flower chosen was also on Umar Riaz’s personal feelings. He said that he just walked into a flower shop and simply picked the flower which appealed to him more. With the aid of EMI, to which he was very thankful for, the film has resulted in being a huge success.
His method was different from how you would usually presume. The ‘script’ was just some rough outlines, but the character themselves were the real and natural actions that the actors were put through. He had them act and react, give themselves into the emotion in accordance to the situations given to them. And you can see that quite clearly in the feelings that the characters portray through the gestures and facial expressions.
Madam Noor Jehan, we let her live however she wanted to and she still lives within us, her spirit and compassion. Those songs, the lyrics and the melodies are an inheritance we won’t be losing anytime soon.
The actors themselves enjoyed themselves a lot. Though it was hard for them to not have a proper guideline but as the days passed by and turned into weeks which turned into months, they all got a hang of it and gave it their all. One of the actors, Usman Latif said that when he heard Madam Noor Jehan’s voice, he was deeply touched by it and the expressions came to him freely which were taken in by the cameras.“
“Har Gane Wala Gana Gata He Magar Har Gane Wala Sach Nahin Gata”
There are many talented singers even in this era but there was certain uniqueness about Madam Noor Jehan that no one will be able to take away from her. She sang from the heart, the soul, something that touched ours and we have swept away in her feelings.
Umar Riaz said that it was difficult to choose from her wide range of songs, it went form a hundred that was reduced to fifty which was finally decided upon nine songs. EMI played a big role in this, as it had the rights to most of the old songs from the golden age. Emi has existed since before the time of partition as a gramophone company back then, after the partition though a lot of songs came alongside with EMI Pakistan. All this effort and hard work put into it, Umar Riaz said, “It’s almost the same as looking for gold. Through all that dirt, after some time a few rare pieces are bound to be found” so all that work has a fruitful ending. And we’re glad that they didn’t give up and went on through with it.
