Ghulam Haider(1908-1953)

Ghulam Haider was a pioneer music composer, an innovator in film music of India-Pakistan. After the era of A Silent Film ended in 1931, he quickly moved in and played a key role in starting a new film era which had films with sound and music in British India. He is credited with introducing the famous vocalist Shamshad Begum from Radio Lahore when it first started broadcasting on 16 December 1937. He composed a religious Naat, written by the renowned poet Walli Sahab for Shamshad Begum to sing on the radio. This was fascinating for the public in 1937 and the Naat became a super-hit..."Paigham saba laii hai gulzar-e-Nabi sey" and Ghulam Haider made history. Later in 1948, he is credited with introducing another music icon Lata Mangeshkar to the Hindi Film Industry. Lata herself publicly disclosed this in an interview on her 84th birthday in September,2013. She called him 'truly her Godfather' for introducing her to the Hindi Film Industry in film Majboor (1948). Film Khandaan (1942) starring Noor Jehan established him as a top film music director. He also introduced vocalists Sudha Malhotra and Surinder Kaur to the film industry. Ghulam Haider introduced the Punjabi folk music and instruments like 'Dholak' in the film music. His pioneering work inspired many Punjabi renowned music directors like Hansraj Behl, Shyam Sunder, Husanlal and Feroz Nizami.