Ghulam Haider revolutionalized the face of the Hindi Film song
and laid the foundation for the Hindi film as we know it today
by combining popular ragas with the rich verve and rhythm of
Punjabi music. Haider was born in 1908 in Hyderabad (Sind,
Pakistan). He studied dentistry and learnt music from Babu
Ganeshlal. Giving up dentistry, he worked in the theatre in
Calcutta as a harmonium player - first at the Alfred Theatrical
Company and then the Alexandra Theatrical Company. He briefly
worked with the Jenaphone recording company as composer and
broke into films in Lahore with the father-son duo of Roshan Lal
Shorey and Roop Kishore Shorey. He got his big breakthrough film
with DM Pancholi's Punjabi film Gul-e-Bakavali (1939) followed
by Yamla Jat (1940), both starring Noor Jehan. His biggest hit
came the following year with Khazanchi (1941). The music of the
film, in particular, the song Sawan ke Nazare Hain sung by
Shamshad Begum and himself caused a revolution. By then Music
Directors of the 1930s, who had