Ghulam Mohammed

Ghulam Mohammed is an Indian film composer best known for Hindi musicals such as Pardes (1950), Mirza Ghalib Mirza Ghalib was a biographical television serial >> Read More... (1954), Shama (1961), and Pakeezah (1972). He was born in 1903 in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. Ghulam Mohammed was born into a family of musicians. His father, Nabi Baksh, was an accomplished tabla player. At the age of six, he began his career as a child actor in his company, Punjab-based Albert Theatrical Company. He worked at the local Albert His Theater in Bikaner. He was eventually signed as a contract artist for 25 rupees per month. Still, before he could get a job, the theatre closed due to financial difficulties. In 1924 he came to Bombay and, after eight years of struggle, got the opportunity to play the tabla in 1932 in 'Raja Bartali' for Saroj Movietone's Productions. In composing music, he first became an assistant to music director Naushad at Kardar Productions.

With him and veteran film composer Anil Biswas Anil Krishna Biswas was an Indian playback singer >> Read More... , he worked for over 12 years before working independently on the film Tiger Queen (1947. He continued his work independently, composing music for several more films, eventually winning him the 1955 National Film Award for Best Musical Director for his Mirza Ghalib (1954). He died on March 17, 1968, before Pakiza (1972) was published. In fact, after his death, his mentor and close friend, veteran film composer Naushad, stepped in to complete the film composition work for the film Pakeeza. "The music of the late Ghulam Mohammed was also a benchmark score. Burman and Kishore Kumar have revived a classic song of a timeless variety, earning a gold record from Saregama, then called HMV.

"In 1972, Plan was to win the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for 'Be-Imaan' because he was deemed worthy of a Filmfare Award by music composer Ghulam Mohammed for his song in 'Pakeezah.' Many consider him the pinnacle of Indian cinema. In 1997, he won an award honoring the best Indian film composer of all time for his music show series 'Keep Alive' in Mumbai. In 2010, Mumbai-based music group MUSICOLOR launched a large-scale audiovisual program on his Ghulam Mohammed, allowing music lovers to appreciate the composer's treasures. "A common story is that when Shankar Jaikishan was composing their first work, Versat (1949), they wrote the film song "Barsaat Mein Ham Se Mile Tum Sajjan'.

It is said that he insisted on playing dholak for this film song. Mirza Ghalib (1954) won the National Film Award for Best Musical Director (then called the State Film Award). The filming of his last film, Pakeezha, was delayed for years due to marriage and personal issues between film producer Kamal Amrohi Syed Amir Haider Kamal Naqvi, better known as Kama >> Read More... and lead actress Meena Kumari Meena Kumari is a popular TV and film actress. She >> Read More... and was released after the death of Ghulam Mohammed. Ghulam Mohammed took the initiative to start the trend of playing 'Matka' as an instrument in film scores. Two of his most popular works in which he used 'Matka' are 'Is Dard Ki Mari Duniya Me Mujhsa Bhi Koi Majboor Na Ho...' from Paras and 'Ye Duniya Hai Yahan Dil Ka Lagana...". from Shayar. Some of the films he worked in are: Baanke Sipahi, Mera Khwab, Doli, Tiger Queen, Grihasthi, Kaajal, Pagdi, Dil Ki Basti and many more.