Mehdi Hasan Interview (The Herald, July 2005)
Ashok
interview with Mehdi Hasan that appeared in the July 2005
issue of the Pakistani monthly The Herald. The interviewer
is Rishad Mahmood.
Ashok
--------------------------------
"My ghazals were appreciated the most when I sang the verse
of great poets."
--Mehdi Hasan
"Roshan jamal-e-yaar se hai anjuman tamam," wrote Hasrat
Mohani some 70 years ago. Five decades later, musical legend
Mehdi Hasan immortalised the eccentric Muslim scholar's
lucid poetry about the beloved. To say that Mohani's
remarkable words are in many ways a befitting tribute to the
Rajasthan-born crooner himself, now 75 years old, would be
an understatement. After all, Hasan has enjoyed fame of
mythic proportions during an illustrious career spanning
four decades. Gifted with a sonorous baritone equalled only
by the late K.L. Saigol and boasting an unmatched
repertoire, Hasan remains the ultimate icon of ghazal
singing in the subcontinent. Not since the glory days of
Barkat Ali Khan and Begum Akhtar in the 1930s has the genre
been blessed by such a maestro.
Unfazed by a lukewarm response to his debut in the mid-
1950s, Hasan rose to superstardom in 1962 with a soulful
rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's epic "Guloon mein rang
bhare". which broke sales records throughout Pakistan. In
1977, Hasan's captivating performance in New Delhi drew
unparalleled praise from the great Lata Mangeshkar: "Aisa
lagta hai ke un ke gale mein Hhagwan bolta hai' (it seems as
if a god’s voice issues from his throat). Indeed, Hasan's
memorable ghazals such as "Nawak andaz jidhar deeda-e janan
honge", "Dekh to dil ke jaan se uthta hai', "Koo baku phail
gayee baat shanasayee ki', "Ranjish hee sahi' and others are
benchmarks in the annals of music. Over the years, his
recordings have refined the popular genre of Urdu poetry and
subsequently enthralled connoisseurs.
Hasan was also willing to lend his voice to almost all the
leading men of Lollywood between 1962 and 1990. Not
surprisingly, he remained the first choice of learned music
directors, including Khursheed Anwar and Nisar Bazmi.
Indeed, many haunting film melodies. rich in swagger and
sensuality, can be credited to Hasan. Fans frequently
remember "Mujhe turn nazar se gira to rahe ho". "Khuda wanda
yeh kaisi aag see jalti hai seene mein", "Zindagi mein to
sabhi piyar kiya karte hain" and "Jisne mere dil ko dard
diya" as Hasan classics.
Throughout his career, Hasan has remained committed to
quality. Unfortunately, during the past five years, the
singer has been dogged by serious health problems, which
have hampered his singing prowess to a great extent. Despite
Hasan's stature, financial and emotional support has been in
short supply since his illness took hold. Government
officials and private organisations have made little effort
to care for the man who has captivated generations and is
viewed as a national treasure. Ironically, Hasan's partial
convalescence is thanks to the concern expressed by music
lovers from across the border. On his return from India,
where he received medical treatment over 10 weeks, the
Herald caught up with Hasan in an attempt to share the
musings and memories of the music colossus.
------------------------------
Q. Are you feeling better since returning from India?
A. Yes, definitely. I went to India in February this year
and received some fine treatment from specialists for over
two months. They took good care of me and by the grace of
God, I am feeling much better today.
Q. Was this trip across the border any different from your
previous visits?
A. I have always received tremendous love and affection when
I go to India and it was no different this time. In fact, I
was overwhelmed by the concern expressed about my health by
fans and the national media. Amitabh Bachchan, Lata
Mangeshkar and other renown personalities came especially to
New Delhi to inquire about my health. In fact, Dilip Kumar
sahib even invited me out to lunch. That was really
touching.
Q. Do you ever think back to how your career started?
A. Yes, sometimes. Classical music fascinated me even when I
was barely seven years old and so I would practice the most
difficult classical tunes of those days. Raags Bhairween,
Asawari and Todi held a certain appeal for me even in my
youth. In fact, I was only 11 years old when I sang before
the Maharajah of Baroda and his praise encouraged me to take
up singing as a career.
Q. Your elder brother played a key role in your development
as a singer...
A. Yes, indeed. My brother Pandit Ghulam Qadir was actually
my ustad and he taught me the basics of music during my
teenage years. Since he had graduated from Lucknow's top
music college, he was highly qualified in music, well versed
with all the raags and had a great command over Sanskrit,
Hindi and Urdu. His guidance made me realise the intricacies
of these languages and their treatment when set to music.
Q. When did you first take up professional singing?
A. It was after an audition at Radio Pakistan in the 1950s.
I sang geets and ghazals there. Then in 1956, I got my first
break in films with a song for Rafiq Anwar's film Shikaar. I
still remember that the song "Mere khayal-o-khwab ki duniya
liye huey" had been written by renowned poet Hafeez
Jallundhari. It wasn't a roaring hit but certainly added to
my confidence. Soon after, Riaz Shahid recruited me for the
soundtrack of Susral, which starred Allaudin and Neelo. The
song "Jisne mere dilko dard diya" from that movie, penned by
Muneer Niazi and composed by Hassan Lateef, made me fairly
popular.
Q. Wasn't your legendary version of "Guloon mein rang bhare"
recorded at around the same time?
A. Exactly. The year was 1962 and I will never forget the
adulation that came with that recording, which had been
composed by my brother. Everywhere I went, I was asked to
sing that Faiz ghazal. I can safely say that "Guloon..." was
the number that really launched me both nationally and
internationally. The ghazal was also included in Riaz
Shahid's 1963 blockbuster Farangi as a background song.
Q. You had the opportunity to meet Faiz Ahmed Faiz on
several occasions. What were those meetings like?
A. I met Faiz sahib quite a few times. He was a wonderful
man indeed. He appreciated my singing and was highly amused
when someone once asked him to recite Mehdi Hasan’s s famous
ghazal "Guloon mein rang bhare" in a gathering. Faiz sahib
was also actively involved in the film industry in those
days. He wrote several songs for soundtracks and even
produced a movie "Jago hua savera".
Q. Why did you develop a preference for highbrow poetry for
your ghazal renditions?
A. Since I am not a highly educated person, the preference
you are referring to developed due to the influences I
enjoyed during my career. Great men such as Faiz sahib,
Radio Pakistan's Z.A. Bokhari and lyricist Saifuddin Saif
were my guiding lights. Moreover, I was working with poets
such as Ahmed Faraz, Qateel Shifai and Muneer Niazi, who
were writing extensively for films. I also worked closely
with Himayat Ali Shaer and sang for his productions "Lori"
and "Guriya". The poetic inclinations of these learned men
naturally rubbed off on me. My brother was also instrumental
in instilling an appreciation of poetry in me. I felt that
my ghazal singing was received well when I sang good poetry
and I made sure to comprehend the jist of the lyric before
rendering it. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed singing
the poetry of Faiz, Ghalib and Meer Taqi Meer. "Yeh dhuan sa
kahan se uthta hai" is a personal favourite of mine.
Q. What sort of rapport did you establish with your
contemporaries?
A. I enjoyed the company of some great singers. Ustads
Amanat Ali and Fateh Ali Khan were a great pair who were
adept at singing both classical and semi-classical music and
would always call on me when they visited Karachi. Ahmed
Rushdi and Mujeeb Alam were multi talented singers as well.
I even sang some duets with Rushdi, who was an icon in those
days. And while Ghulam Ali was my junior, I was quite fond
of him and enjoyed his singing.
Among the female artists, I really enjoyed singing with Noor
Jehan simply because she knew music inside out. Roshan Ara
Begam was another great singer and a fine human being. I
also admire Mahnaz a lot.
Q. Why did you work extra hard for the 1974 musical film
Nadiya Ke Paar?
A. My interest in that film stemmed from the fact that so
many singers of stature were lending their voice to this
movie and I was competing against some big names like Amanat
Ali, Fateh Ali and Nazakat-Salamat. Famous music director A.
Hameed was composing the soundtrack. The film's storyline
was based on an imaginary classical singing contest between
Tan Sen and other stalwarts of the seventeenth century. I
rehearsed really hard for the film's songs and it paid off
because the songs were well received. I remember being
involved in a rare number which required me to sing with
Amanat Ali and Fateh Ali. In those days, I always strived to
sing under maestros such as Khursheed Anwar, Master Inayat
and Rasheed Atre. It seemed like a true challenge. Besides,
Mohammad Ali was the male lead of the film and my voice
always suited him best, a fact the actor acknowledged
several times.
Q. Some of your patriotic songs recorded during the wars of
1965 and 1971 also had tremendous appeal...
A. Yes, I believe so. Noor Jehan, Masud Rana and I sang a
lot of national songs during the war days. Most of the songs
were recorded during the 1965 war and it was an adventure of
sorts to reach the studios for recording sessions during
those tense times. I also won an award for "Apni jaan nazar
karoon" while "Aey khita-e-Lahore" was a popular national
number. During the 1980s, Kaleem Usmani wrote a beautiful
song "Yeh watan tumhara hai" and I enjoyed singing that for
Pakistan Television. It was hugely popular as well.
Q. In your opinion, why hasn't India produced any great
ghazal singers in the past few decades?
A. I'm not exactly sure, it's quite puzzling for me as well.
Their music history is rich and there are many classical
singers and instrumentalists. Moreover, audiences there are
appreciative and attuned to high quality music. Perhaps the
lack of Indian ghazal singers has something to do with the
language. After the 1970s, India has not produced any good
Urdu poets while Pakistan has consistently done so. You see,
ghazal singing does not bear the same affinity with Hindi
that it does with Urdu. In Pakistan, even our pop stars sing
lyrics of high standards. It may be that Hindi is more
suited to geet rather than ghazal. That said, I do admire
Jagjit Singh, who is actually one of my disciples.
Q. What are your thoughts on Pakistan's present-day pop
singers?
A. I believe that innovations in any genre take the art form
further and keep it alive. Whatever local pop singers are
coming up with goes towards keeping the music alive. That is
the main thing. Sometimes I do get bothered by weird
experiments but it is not as if I have any serious
objections to pop music.
Q. At any point in your career have you found yourself at
odds with the authorities?
A. Never. In fact, each one of our country's rulers have
accorded me the highest respect and protocol. In 1964, Ayub
Khan awarded me the Tamghae-Imtiaz in appreciation of my
singing. I also received the Pride of Performance from
General Ziaul Haq in 1984 and the Hilal-e-Imtiaz from
General Musharraf in 2003. But as a policy I have never
indulged in politics even though offers from political
parties were always there.
Q. Is there another Mehdi Hasan in the making among your
sons?
A. My eldest son Arif plays the tabla quite well but since
he has taken up event management as a business, he remains
fairly busy. My other son Asif Mehdi has been singing well
and has moved to Lahore to try and find work as playback
singer in movies. Meanwhile, Kamran Hasan, my youngest son,
is now an established singer in the US and is getting better
with each performance.
Q. What are the goals of the Mehdi Hasan Educational
Foundation Society project?
A. The project is the brainchild of my son Arif Mehdi.
Inspired by my own difficult experience, it is a welfare
project for the artists of our country, a majority of whom
struggle financially once they are past their prime. We hope
to mobilise affluent artists and philanthropists from both
sides of the border as well the Pakistani government to
raise funds for the foundation which will support those
artists who suffer from ill health and are unable to bear
the costs of medical treatment.
skalr...@yahoo.com
Ashok wrote:
> As if in answer to Satish Kalra's wish, I chanced upon an
> interview with Mehdi Hasan that appeared in the July 2005
> issue of the Pakistani monthly The Herald. The interviewer
> is Rishad Mahmood.
>
>
> Ashok
Thank you so much, Ashok, for the update/interview-article.
Happy Listenings.
Satish Kalra