Musarrat Nazir Khawaja (Urdu: مسرت نذیر; born 13 October 1940) is a Pakistani singer and film actress, who acted in many Urdu and Punjabi films.[3] She is also known as The Silver Screen's Sparkling Star and is recognized for her role in Cinema of Pakistan during the 1950s and 1960s.[1] Many years later, she also sang solo, mostly wedding and folk songs.[4]
Early life
Her parents were a middle-class family of Kashmiri origin from Lahore.[5] Her father Khwaja Nazir Ahmed, worked as a registered contractor in LahoreMunicipal Corporation.[5][4] Early in her life, her parents wanted her to be a doctor, and provided her with the best possible education they could afford. Musarrat passed the matriculation examination (10th grade) with distinction and passed the intermediate examination (12th grade) from Kinnaird College in Lahore.[5][4]
Career
She had keen interest in music and began singing for Radio Pakistan in the early 1950s. However, insufficient money from the radio took her to the film director Anwar Kamal Pasha in 1955. She explained to Pasha her strong desire to sing for his movies. Instead, Pasha suggested that she should become an actress. Musarrat needed her parents' approval. Pasha himself met Musarrat's father and convinced him to allow his daughter to work in the movie industry as a singer and actress.[6]
Pasha changed Musarrat's name to her professional name Chandani and signed her up for a side role in his movie.[1] Hence, Chandani made her debut with Sabiha Khanum and Nayyar Sultana in Pasha's film Qatil in 1955. Her role was secondary but effective.[5][6]
Sheikh Lateef of Capital Films, Lahore planned to make a Punjabi film, 'Pattan (1955)'. Lateef's friend, poet and script writer, Baba Aalam Siah Posh, advised him to cast Chandani (Musarrat Nazir) in the film. Lateef agreed. This was the debut of Musarrat Nazir, aka Chandani, in Punjabi films. Then she appeared in the hit Punjabi film, Pattan (1955), under her real name, Musarrat Nazir, and played the lead role opposite Santosh Kumar in Pattan. The producer was Sheikh Lateef and the film was directed by Luqman. The film Pattan opened the doors for Musarrat in the Punjabi film industry, which led her to the hit film Patay Khan (1955). She was the supporting actress. The film was produced by film actress Shammi and Musarrat Nazir acted in a supporting role along with Noor Jehan and Aslam Pervaiz. Her main competitor actresses, in those days, were Sabiha Khanum, Asha Posley, Bahar Begum, Nayyar Sultana, Jamila Razzaq, Yasmin, Neelo and Noor Jehan.[7]
Musarrat also gave performances in Pakistan cinema's greatest melodramas like the films Mahi Munda (1956) and Yakke Wali (1957).[6]
The film song Us bay wafa ka sheher hai in the mega-hit film Shaheed (1962), is considered to be one of the popular songs in 2022. Even after she retired from her film career in 1988, she had continued to sing for Pakistan Television until recently.[5][4]
Personal life
She was born on 13 October 1940. She is married to a physician, Arshad Majeed, and has lived in Canada since 1965.[7] They have three grown-up children in 2005 and her son Omar Majeed is a film director. Musarrat Nazir gave up her film career that was then at its peak for her would-be husband and agreed to move to Canada with him.[5]
Musarrat Nazir and Arshad Majeed wanted to return to Pakistan and settle in Lahore in the late 1970s. Arshad Majeed wanted to set up a hospital in Lahore and they had gone ahead and bought a home there for this purpose which they still own and maintain in 2005. After spending a lot of money, months of struggle and running around, Arshad Majeed gave up.[5]
