‘Mandwa’ to screen musical hit ‘Mosiqar’ today

Islamabad

Producer-Composer: Rashid Attrey

Director: Qadeer Ghorey

Script: S. H. Zaidi

Playback singers: Noorjehan, Salamat Ali, Nazakat Ali,Saleem Raza

Cast: Sabiha, Santosh Kumar, Meena Shorey, Rehan and Bahar (Guest Artist).

  Lok Virsa Film Club Mandwa is beginning 2017 on a melodious note. A memorable musical hit from 1962 bows on Mandwa screen today (Saturday) at 3 p.m.

‘Mosiqar’ is still cherished and adored for its classical hit music and of popular numbers by Noorjehan and Saleem Raza. 1962 was the year when Noorjehan gave up film acting after ‘Ghalib’ (1961)and decided  to go only for film playback. After migrating from Mumbai in late-1947, she had appeared only in thirteen films in Pakistan, notable among them ‘Dopatta’, ‘Intazaar’ and ‘Koel’. Her only playback till then, without acting, was her former husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi's ‘Jan-e-Bahar’ (1960). 1962 brought Noorjehan in film playback with a blast. There were producers waiting desperately to sign her for recording in their upcoming ventures. Her playback assignments that year were purely amazing: ‘Qaidi’, ‘Azra’, ‘Banjaran’, ‘Susral’ and ‘Ghunghat’.

‘Mosiqar’ was one of the major hits among them. Produced by composer Rashid Attrey, the film went through lengthy delays and was even stranded due to hectic schedule of leading lady Sabiha. Apart from Sabiha and Santosh Kumar. Meena Shorey who had migrated from Mumbai after a successful film career a few years back, was cast as vamp in a club and seductress. In comparison, Sabiha was seen as a street singer. Leading lady, Bahar, appears here in an extremely brief role and seen for a couple of minutes after the beginning credits.

‘Mosiqar’ had to compete at the box office that year not only with the regularly imported Indian films but new Pakistani films coming out almost every week: ‘Qaidi’, ‘Chanda’, ‘Aulad’, ‘Susral’ and ‘Ghunghat’. Director Qadeer Ghorey till then was relatively unknown name in the film trade. he was competing not only  with heavy weights like SM Yousaf, Munshi Dil and Najam Naqvi who had recently migrated  from Mumbai but as well as new lot of Hassan Tariq, Saifuddin Saif, Wazir Ali, Ehtesham, Khalil Qaiser, Riaz Shahid, Diljeet Mirza and Shabab Kairanvi. Inspite of being a beginner, Qadeeer Ghorey did a brilliant job as director and made a name for him. Here, he was handling polished and seasoned actors like Sabiha, Santosh and Meena Shorey and he came out of this challenging role rather well.

‘Mosiqar’ was composer Rashid Attrey's own production and a dear baby. Compositions carried heavy notes of classical music. In fact, the whole film is knit around a way where music is integral part of the plot. Noorjehan, Salamat Ali, Nazakat Ali and Saleem Raza must be given credits for its success with memorable numbers ‘Gaey gi duniya geet mrey’, ‘Tum jug jug geo mahraj’, ‘Raseeley morey rasia’, ‘Ja ja rey ja mei tujh sey naheen boloon’ and ‘Is sehar-e-kharabi mei’.

Last but not the least, without revealing the suspense of the plot, ‘Mosiqar’ deals with the life of a musician who has lost his love forever but is unable to forget .Death plays a significant role here.

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