PUBLISHED
February 01, 2026
KARACHI:
Nisar Bazmi wasn’t simply an unusual music director—he was an establishment. His identify stays synonymous with high quality movie songs produced from the Sixties via the Nineteen Nineties. His famend scholar, Tanvir Afridi, pays a heartfelt tribute to his Ustad within the type of a biography, Kon Yaadon Ko Zanjeer Pehnaye Ga, a undertaking that took a few years to finish. The outcome isn’t solely a invaluable addition to Pakistan’s movie literature but additionally an illuminating account of the struggles and successes that formed Nisar Bazmi’s outstanding profession.
Laced with colored posters from movies whose soundtracks have been composed by Bazmi, the e book features each as a information to yesteryear filmi music and as a tribute to a composer who started his profession in Bombay (now Mumbai), relocated to Lahore, and spent his closing years in Karachi. What made him a legend in his lifetime was the caliber of his work, which raised the usual of music in Pakistani cinema whereas additionally giving us enduring nationwide songs and memorable ghazals.
Tanvir Afridi is an achieved music composer in his personal proper, and placing his recollections of his late Ustad into print is a becoming solution to protect his legacy. Whether or not you might be unfamiliar with Nisar Bazmi or want to know extra about him, this e book is value looking for out. It chronicles a journey that started in India and concluded in Pakistan, enriching music lovers internationally.
The strengths
The e book opens in a fashion paying homage to the traditional movies for which Nisar Bazmi composed songs and background scores, via a flashback. Writing from a spot near his coronary heart, the creator takes readers again in time in a largely chronological trend. He speaks of his Ustad in easy, accessible language whereas giving due significance to the social and cultural points of every period. Questions resembling what drew Nisar Bazmi to music, the place he stood throughout his years in India, why he got here to Pakistan, and what prompted his prolonged keep in Pakistan, how he utilized his Bollywood expertise in Pakistan, and why he finally relocated to Karachi are all addressed in these pages.
The depth of analysis undertaken by the creator is spectacular and deserving of reward, significantly given the restricted documentation accessible on Pakistani movies and their soundtracks. Afridi approached certainly one of Nisar Bazmi’s protégés, Pyarelal (of Laxmikant–Pyarelal fame), for his perspective and in addition gathered testimonials from Ghulam Abbas and Naheed Akhtar, among the many many singers whose voices Bazmi formed. By almost itemizing each music composed by his trainer and accumulating posters from the movies they appeared in, Afridi has honoured his mentor with diligence and devotion. Add to this a number of memorable images and several other never-before-seen photographs, and you’ve got a e book that does justice to each the person and his work.
For readers who could not know who Nisar Bazmi was or why he deserved a biography, these pages supply a complete introduction. He was one of many most interesting music composers produced by Pakistan and differed from his contemporaries in a number of essential methods, all of which the creator lays out intelligently. Bazmi was excess of the composer of Andaleeb, Anjuman, and Umrao Jaan Ada, and the e book conveys this successfully via the eyes of somebody who spent appreciable time with him.
The failings
Having learn and reviewed quite a few autobiographies and biographies of actors, administrators, singers, and music composers from each side of the Wagah Border, I discovered one side of this e book puzzling: the choice to present area to contemporaries with out clear justification. Most readers who decide up a e book on Nisar Bazmi are seemingly already acquainted with Pakistani movies and their music. Together with songs by his contemporaries as an instance the musical panorama of the time feels pointless.
Did this comparability elevate Nisar Bazmi’s stature in my eyes? Under no circumstances. He was among the many most interesting music administrators of his period and stays so by any measure. As a reader, nevertheless, I discovered it mildly irritating to wade via pages of songs not by Nisar Bazmi. If I needed to know what Sohail Rana, Robin Ghosh, M. Ashraf, Khalil Ahmed, or Kamal Ahmed have been doing whereas Bazmi was composing his music, I might seek for them on-line or search out books about them—not search for their work right here.
Provided that Tanvir Afridi was Bazmi Sahab’s scholar, the e book may have benefited from a sharper deal with the Ustad himself. A separate quantity on Pakistani filmi music may need been a greater place for broader comparisons. It typically feels as if the creator is aware of excess of he has dedicated to paper. Essential episodes are omitted: why Nisar Bazmi took over Sohail Rana’s Aas Paas within the early Eighties, why he as soon as interrupted one other composer’s recording session, how his distinctive filmi contact elevated the Pak–China collaboration Rishtey Aur Raastay, and the way he remained related via nationwide songs and personal ghazal albums. Readers interested in these moments won’t discover their solutions right here.
It might even have been fascinating to discover the tales behind a few of Bazmi’s biggest compositions. What led him to create Pakistan’s first pop music, Hum Ko To Ishq Ne, with Ahmed Rushdi’s deliberate stutter? Why did he go for minimal instrumentation in Aise Bhi Hai Meherbaan? What made him gamble on Ghulam Abbas and Asad Amanat Ali Khan as playback voices? Why did he make Naheed Akhtar sing Allah Hello Allah Kia Karo after it was sung by Tahira Syed? How did he react when Bollywood copied his tunes? These insights would have added depth and intimacy to an already invaluable narrative.
Structurally, the location of music lists on the finish of every chapter—alongside songs by different composers—feels unconventional. Usually, such lists seem on the finish of biographies. The e book may additionally have benefited from chapter titles drawn from Bazmi’s iconic songs, resembling Ho Tamanna Aur Kia, Chalo Acha Hua Tum Bhool Gaye, or Hum Chalay To Hamaray. Moreover, as an alternative of a number of recollections in the beginning (some related, others much less so), a single foreword adopted by the creator’s notice may need lent the e book a extra worldwide, streamlined really feel—an method that might nonetheless be adopted in a future version with expanded testimonials.
The decision
I think about myself lucky to have met and interviewed Nisar Bazmi Sahab throughout his closing years. The interview befell at his dwelling between Asr and Maghrib prayers. My questions delayed his namaaz and clearly irritated him. But in these fifteen minutes, he clarified many points that had lengthy intrigued me: his desire for Runa Laila over Madam Noor Jahan in two of his largest movies, his selection of Mujeeb Alam as an alternative of Ahmed Rushdi in Shama Aur Parwana, his determination to not proceed with Rushdi within the singer’s closing days, and his causes for stepping away from filmi music after Very Good Duniya Very Dangerous Loag. Have been I to put in writing one other tribute to the maestro, these are the main points I might need to share with a wider viewers.
Tanvir Afridi, nevertheless, seems to have performed it secure. He avoids such questions maybe as a result of this e book focuses on Bazmi’s profession reasonably than controversy, maybe to keep away from displeasing backers like EMI, or maybe as a result of such particulars now not command the eye they as soon as did. Inside these boundaries, he has nonetheless carried out a commendable job of compiling this biography and paying tribute to his grasp. Now that the e book is printed, there stays scope to construct upon it by chatting with actors, singers, administrators, and producers who shared a room with Nisar Bazmi. That’s how worldwide biographies are formed, and that’s the degree of respect an ideal maestro like Nisar Bazmi really deserved.
All information and knowledge are the only real accountability of the author
Omair Alavi is a contract contributor who writes about movie, tv, and in style tradition
