Noor Jehan has a few famous descendants such as her daughter Zile Huma, who is a well-known Pakistani singer and the only of her four daughters to follow in her mother's steps, and her granddaughter Sonya Jehan who is a fast-upcoming actress. She was born to Akbar Hussain Rizvi, Noor Jehan's eldest son and his French wife, Florence. Her birthname was Sonya Rizvi but she was re-christened Sonya Jehan in honour of her grandmother. Noor Jehan's sons now run Shahnoor Studios alongside their half-brothers. Also, Zile Huma's youngest son, Hamza Ali, is an upcoming name in the Pakistani film and music industry. He made his debut in films in 1997 when he appeared in Sala Bigda Jayay. He said "I have seen it all, though it hasn't been long since I've joined showbiz but I have been part of it all my life because of my Naano and my mom". Carrying stardom in his blood, his elder brother, Ahmed Ali Butt, is the lead vocalist in the rock band Entity Paradigm. Also, two of the Pakistan movie industry's younger and highly talented singers, Azra Jehan and Saira Naseem, are Noor Jehan's direct family.

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Trivia

• Noor Jehan is credited in various ways such as, Nur Jehan, Nur Jahan, Madam Noor Jehan, Madam Noor Jahan, Noorjahan, Noorjehan, Nurjehan, and Nurjahan.
• Noor Jehan used to eat pickles by quarters of seers and the interesting thing is that whenever she had a film song to record, she would eat quarter seer of pickle quite ritualistically, wash it down with ice-cool water, then reach over to the microphone. She said her voice was enlivened this way.
• Noor Jehan never liked to step out of her home and never liked parties. She also preferred to avoid hotels and public gatherings. "I want to lead a simple, uncomplicated life", she added. Her eldest daughter, Zile Huma, only got to see the inside of Shahnoor Studios after she was married. Her three daughters from Ejaz Durrani had never done that once, she added with a tinge of pride. Noor Jehan never sang at private functions because she believed this practice to be unprofessional.
• Noor Jehan had a distinct look, her hair parted at the center and was tightly combed back in a braid. She believed in big and bold jewellery and wore double-breasted "kurtas" and "shararas". She brought back conservative dress code with her "dupatta" covering her head putting an end to the carefree heroine of the 1930s. Her trademark, heavy make-up, specifically of the eyes and lips remained hers till the end. Nobody managed to carry off those colorful and gaudy saris like Noor Jehan. Rumor has it that she hardly wore the same clothes twice.
• Noor Jehan always preferred her year of birth to remain a romantic mystery. When interviewer Khalid Hassan first met her in 1967 she told him "People often wonder how old I am. Let me tell you, in terms of experiences of life and men, I have always been 100 years old."
• Noor Jehan is one of Asha Bhosle's most favorite singers.
• Master Ghulam Haider whom she considered to be her "film line" ustad, taught her how to stand in front of a microphone, how to render words such as hai and mohabbat, and how to breathe while singing.
• Noor Jehan was deaf in one ear,
• Noor Jehan sings in Ragi which means she strains her vocal cords, thus rendering voice an artificiality. She is able to change, vary, strain, snap, twist, and swing her vocal cords according to the demand of the song. Noor Jehan's capability to strain her vocal cords wherever and whenever she desires has really made her a unique artist. Even in Alaps (prelude modulation), Taans (stretched key note), Pulteys (turn-over modulation) and Murkis (sudden metrical zig-zag), she is able to produce variety.
• The late Naseer Anwar once told Khalid Hassan a lovely story about Noor Jehan. It happened in the 1930s in the city of Lahore. The devotees of a local Peer had arranged a special evening of devotional music in his honour. Among those who were brought on to perform was a little girl who sang some naats. "Sing us something in Punjabi, little daughter", the Peer said to her. She immediately launched into a Punjabi folk song, one line of which went something like: "may the kite of this land of five rivers touch the skies". As she sung the words in her young and perfectly modulated voice, the Peer went into a trance. Then he rose, put his hand on the girl's head and prophesied, "Go forth, little girl, your kite will one day touch the skies". How Pakistan has regressed as time has past was brought home to Mr. Hassan in the late 1970s when a mullah in Lahore issued fatwa against Noor Jehan, declaring her "outside the pale of Islam for having said that music was a form of worship".
• Noor Jehan was an extraordinary woman who lived her life on her own terms. She went through good times and bad, marriages, divorces, heartbreaks, casual and serious love affairs, fame, fortune, loneliness, and in the last years of her life, unremitting ill health. She bore it all with quiet confidence and much grace. She never felt sorry for herself, never looked for pity. She was accused of being possessive. It is true that she was because she wanted to hold on to what she had acquired through her own efforts. She bore the financial burden of helping her large family through the years. Noor Jehan looked after the financial needs of her large family - and even the family that was not immediate - all her life. Once she said "People often ask me why I don't stop working. Well, how can I? If I don't work, who is going to take care of all these people". However, Noor Jehan was never known to have been religiously inclined. Noor Jehan was as extravagant as could be and created a style of vivacity and flamboyance all her own.
• In a conversation with Naveed Riaz somewhere in the 1980s, she remembered her early years and spoke of them movingly. "I was only fifteen years old when I became a mother (actually seventeen and a half or eighteen). I did not know anything about children. I thought of myself as a child. I really was too young to understand anything". Then she spoke about her mother "After my morning riyaz, a teacher would come and help me learn how to read and write. At times, I found it a bit much and so one day, I declared that I was not going to study anymore. That was the only time my mother hit me. She struck me just once and said Nahin Nooriji, tussi parho gai. Now that I think about it, had it not been for her, I would not have learnt to read and write. When I record a song, I have the words in front of me on a sheet of paper. And by God, every time I look at sheet of paper, I remember my mother. I feel like raising my hands in prayer to God and asking Him to shower His blessings on my dear mother. You know, so much time has passed, but I can still feel the thrill of riding on my father's shoulder as he walked through the street. There I am, perched high, looking down on people and shops. Oh, I remember those days!"
• On another website, legendary music composer Naushad remembered Noor Jehan and spoke about her:

"I don't remember exactly when I first met Noor Jehan. It was much before the Partition of course, when she was singing in India. She was working in Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946) along with Surendra Nath and Suraiya. That was when I was first introduced to her. I was recording the song, Jawan Hai Mohabbat, set in Raga Pahadi. I was just told the story, the situation of the film and asked to record the song on the lyrics given to me. The recording was in Tardeo at National Studios, which is the air-conditioned market now. She liked the tune very much when I first played it for her. She even complimented me in front of Mehboobsaab. This was good for me because when I started giving music in films, she was already a big name. Her words carried weight and that helped me a lot. She sang for a lot of films for me and she gave me a lot of respect whenever she would sing Aawaz De Kahan Hai in every concert she had. Her first film was Khandaan, in which she also acted. Her husband, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi also made many films for her. She acted with Dilip Kumar in Jugnu too. She was a very warm and friendly person. At the same time, she was a very mischievous person also. In fact, while recording Aawaz De Kahan Hai, we had only one microphone. So she would stand on one side, and Surendra Nath stood on the other. Surendra Nath was a very timid man. A thorough gentleman and he could not take Noor Jehan's mischief in stride. What she would do is sing her lines and instead of turning away, she would stare right into Surendra Nath's face, making him nervous! He could stand it no longer, so he came to me and requested me to ask her to turn away once she finished singing her lines. She laughed and then did what I asked her to do. She had a certain innocence when she played such pranks on her colleagues, but they didn't mind it because they liked her very much. She missed her Bombay friends a lot. Recently, when we were both in America, she called me up and cried that she misses her old house in Chowpatty and her friends there. She always kept in touch even though she went to Pakistan. For an artiste, there are no boundaries. So even if she was in Pakistan, she was always remembered here as she remembered us."

• Noor Jehan and Lata Mangeshkar were very good friends from the time they first met on the sets of Badi Maa (1945). At that time, Lata was an upcoming singer and a fan of Noor Jehan's. Noor Jehan commented her and praised her. She said:

Log kahate hain ki Lataji tumhe itna manti hain, Lataji tumhe Ustad samajhti hain, tumhe pyaar karti hain. Yeh sab main samajhti hoon unka badapan hain kyon ki Lata to Lata hain. Lataji ki tarah meri nazar mein to koi aaj tak paida nahin hua, Lataji ko Allah ne awaz di hain, ilm unhe unke Wallid sahab se mila, khuda ki taraf se unpar karam hain. (People say (to me) that Lataji believes in you so much, Lataji considers you to be her mentor, she loves you. All this I understand, it is their elevation (of appreciation) because Lata is Lata. Nobody in the likeness of Lata, in my eyes, has been born to this day. Allah has given Lataji her voice, she received her knowledge from her father. She has been bestowed on by God).

• In an old edition of the Filmfare magazine, Dalsukh M. Pancholi wrote an article about how he discovered Noor Jehan:

One morning, a ten-year-old girl was standing at the entrance of my studio, and on seeing her, while getting out of my car, she began to sing. Her singing lacked polish and her movements were clumsy but her voice had a rare charm, and it held my attention. It took her in and cast her in my three films - Gul Bakavli (1939), Yamla Jat (1941) and Khandaan (1942). The girl was Noor Jehan who became famous as a singing star and was known as the Nightingale of Punjab.

• Noor Jehan's elder sister Eidan Bai was a famous stage singer, dancer, and actress in her days. She had a melodious voice and great acting skills. Eidan Bai was starring in the Urdu stage drama, Mallika, written by Tanvir Naqvi. Eidan Bai fell in love with Tanvir Naqvi, and their marriage took place in Lahore in 1948, two years after Naqvi's debut as a lyricist in Anmol Ghadi (1946). Their marriage lasted for 15 years and finally ended in a divorce in 1963.
• Noor Jehan's upbringing, unfortunately, did not give her the same refinement that Lata had. The former was akin to having petty disputes (mostly professional), and while at it, also using foul language! Her insecurities led her to some very awkward situations, like at the time of the shooting of the pre-partition hit, Anmol Ghadi (1946), with co-star, Suraiya. Both stars were getting ready for the shooting of a song, in which Suraiya's clothes were slightly more beautiful than Noor Jehan's. Before the song could be shot, the latter could not control her anger and took a pair of scissors and made shreds of the dress. Such was her insecurity.
• Noor Jehan's forte was film music, but her strong classical music foundations gave her the liberty to sing the most difficult ghazals, both for film and non-film albums. A Pakistani poet has not tasted the sweetness of success if Noor Jehan has not obliged him by singing his work. Qateel Shifai, Ahmed Faraz, and Nasir Kazmi all have been immortalised courtesy of their works which Noor Jehan has sung. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a giant in his own right, went so far as to gift his famous poem, Mujhse pehli si mohabbat to her, upon hearing her rendition. In fact, most film pandits go so far as to refer to it as the greatest Urdu song ever sung. Quite a title, once you understand what that implies, for hundreds of Urdu poets have had their works sung by an equal number of singers, but the credit goes to none other than Noor Jehan.
• Noor Jehan and Lata Mangeshkar are both legends, albeit being separated by borders. Where the latter made no show of this fact, the former was quite the contrary. Noor Jehan knew quite well that she was an icon and an institution, and never made the effort to hide this. In an interview telecast on National TV, she was bold enough to say "I would leave my husband, but not my music". This sweeping statement reflected not only her audacity, but her passion as well.
• When Noor Jehan was very young, she accompanied her elder sisters, Eidan Bai and Haider Baandi, in an Urdu song extolling the Holy Prophet of Islam, which became a hit. Its opening line was: Hanste hain sitaare, ya Shah-e-Madina and it was composed by G.A. Chisti. The director of the Punjabi film Pind Di Kudhi (1935), K.D. Mehra remember the popularity of the devotional song in Punjab some years earlier, and he put it in his movie although it being in Urdu, it was a bit of a misfit in a Punjabi movie.
• Soon after Noor Jehan's first heart operation, when she returned to Lahore and began to sing again, she said This voice is God's voice and I have preserved it with His grace. In 1992, she told Khalid Hasan, When I stand before the microphone, it is not just me standing there. Behind me, I can feel the presence of my parents. I know they are there. It is a miracle. When I go out, there on stage during a performance, the voice that you hear is not my speaking voice. Believe me, I do not know where it comes from. It His gift which He has graciously place in my care. It is His, not mine.
• Noor Jehan recorded her last song for the movie Insaaf Ho To Aisa (1998), titled "Ladki Phansaali Tune" despite her deteriorating health problems.
• Zile Huma, Noor Jehan's daughter and Ahmed Ali Butt, Noor Jehan's grandson are both singers in their own right but both differ greatly from the maestro whose genes they inherited. It took Huma quite a long time to convince her mother to allow her to sing at private functions (something that Noor Jehan strongly condemned and never indulged in personally), but when she got permission, her mother arranged a top-of-the-line orchestra to accompany her daughter. But Ahmed had a tougher time in getting his grandmother to accept the heavy metal music he loved. "She wouldn't even let me touch my guitar when she was in the house", Ahmed says.
• In Madam Noor Jehan's last interview, she made the observation, "Life is a lie, Death is the truth".
• In an interview, Pran, the famous character actor of Bollywood, talked about his first Urdu film, Khandaan (1942) in which he played the male lead opposite the then upcoming singer/actress, Noor Jehan. He said At that time Noor Jehan was still a growing girl and she was so short. They used to give her bricks to stand on. Even then, she was still a little bit shorter than me.
• Noor Jehan never sang to record a larger number of songs to her name, but for the sheer pleasure of singing. While an actress, it was easier to strike a hit because she new the mood of her songs which also gave a whole new touch to her marvellous talent. For example, in her song Kisi Tarha Mohabbat Main Chain Pa Na Sake..., the way she sang the last words - Pa Na Sake... was simply unmatched. This exceptional style is still known as the Noor Jehan touch.
• When Noor Jehan first suffered a heart ailment, Khalid Hasan said "But of course it had to be the heart, considering how many claimants it has had and how often it fluttered for those on whom she has chosen to smile, even if fleetingly or on a mild summer evening". He always believed "The Madam" to be indestructible. Her death, therefore, was the kind of loss that it takes a long time to reconcile with. She suffered much pain in her last years. Now at last she is in peace. Once somebody asked her since when she had been singing. "Maybe I was born singing", she replied.
• In his book, Noor Jehan Ki Kahani Meri Zubani, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi recalls his first encounter with Noor Jehan. He wrote that she was no more than eight or nine. Once, he asked the manager of the Corinthian Theatre to go to Punjab and come back with some girls. The man came back with fifteen or twenty of them, among whom were the Noor Jehan sisters, the two elder ones, Eidan Bai and Haider Bandi, and the eight-year-old future queen of the Indian cinema. These girls were collectively called the Punjab Mail.

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Quotes

• After her heart bypass operation, Noor Jehan said she was not sure she would be able to sing again, but six weeks later, she began to sing and is quoted as saying:

“ I sang for forty-five minutes and my voice was good and strong and I was overcome by my gratitude to God. I love my work. When I sing, I feel the presence of God. It is my world, my life, my faith. Only God knows what goes through my heart, how I feel. I can't express it. My only aim now is to bring happiness to others, to serve the people, to build hospitals, to help my children. I feel that the life God has granted me after my operation is for some special purpose. I want to use this time in the name of the Holy Prophet, whom God bless! That is the way I feel now.”

Noor Jehan after her heart bypass operation

• When she made an early meeting with Khalid Hassan, she told him about her growing up in Kasur. She said

“ We were brought up with great love, and our parents always doted on us and also told us that true joy resides in your own heart and you always carry it with you no matter where in the world you go. Nobody can bring you joy if you don't have it within your heart.”

~Noor Jehan

“ My father used to say that if you cannot help people, you should not harm them. Because of my parents we grew up honest and hard-working, never greedy or envious of others who had more. We were happy with what we had. We were not ashamed of our slender means. It was not important. When I was a child, there was one prayer I always used to say: O God, do not make me dependent on anyone except on Your glorious mercy. I have taught the same thing to my daughters.”

~Noor Jehan

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Filmography

• Mirza Ghalib (1961)
• Koel (1959)
• Pardaisan (1959)
• Neend (1959)
• Anarkali (1958)
• Choomantar (1958)
• Nooran (1957)
• Intezar (1956)
• Lakht-e-Jigar (1956)
• Patey Khan (1955)
• Gulnar (1953)
• Dopatta (1952)
• Chanwey (1951)
• Mirabai (1947)
• Abida (1947)
• Jugnu (1947)
• Mirza Sahibaan (1947)
• Maharana Pratab (1946)
• Jadoogar (1946)
• Sofia (1946)
• Humjoli (1946)
• Dil (1946)
• Anmol Ghadi (1946)
• Bhaijaan (1945)
• Badi Maa (1945)
• Gaon Ki Gori (1945)
• Zeenat (1945)
• Dost (1944)
• Lal Haveli (1944)
• Naukar (1943)
• Duhai (1943)
• Nadaan (1943)
• Khandaan (1942)
• Faryad (1942)
• Dheeraj (1942)
• Chandani (1942)
• Susral (1941)
• Umeed (1941)
• Red Signal (1941)
• Chaudhry (1941)
• Yamla Jat (1940)
• Sajni (1940)
• Pyam-e-Haq (1939)
• Imandaar (1939)
• Gul Bakavli (1939) (as Baby Noor Jehan)

Tu Mila To Mali Music Master Abdulla Song rither Mushtaq shfahi

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References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

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External links

• Noor Jehan Kasur.20fr.com
• Noor Jehan at the Internet Movie Database
• ^  Songs by Noor Jehan. Retrieved 2005-04-02. Includes a photograph of Noor Jehan.

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