Written by: Muhammad Suhayb
Posted on: August 02, 2024 | 
| 中文
Akhlaq Ahmed
Most of the Pakistanis born in the 70s have heard, Sona na chandi na koi mehel at least once in their life, and their beloved song, Hum ko kis ke gham ne maara. It is the inner voice of someone deeply hurt in love, and hum rahi aisi raho ke, is about the aimless lives of youth, waiting for a messiah. Though composed by maestros and written by intellectual poets, these songs could not have achieved star status had they been rendered by anyone but the ever-melodious Akhlaq Ahmed. Akhlaq’s unique voice and emotive delivery transformed these compositions into timeless classics.
Akhlaq Ahmed
Pakistani films have been fortunate to have actor-singer combinations working in tandem during the golden era. In the late 60s/70s era, many singers were associated with leading men. With the mention of Muhammad Ali, Mehdi Hassan's Jab koi pyar se bulaaye ga started to play in the minds, Ahmed Rushdi was synonymous with Waheed Murad and Syed Kamal, while Akhlaq Ahmed, was mostly synchronizing with Nadeem. In the tradition of his predecessor Rushdi, Akhlaq lent his voices to actors much senior to him (Muhammad Ali, Talish, Sultan Rahi, Rehman), while he was at ease when lending his voice to much younger Faisal, Ismail Shah, Arbaaz Khan and Ahsan Khan.
Born in 1946 in Delhi, Akhlaq Ahmed grew up in Karachi after Partition. As a teenager, he was part of a music group that performed at public events. He had a partner Nazir Baig, who would be singing Mukesh’s songs, while Akhlaq would try to imitate Rafi. When Nazir Baig turned Nadeem the actor, Akhlaq decided to try his luck as a singer in movies. Those were the early 70s and a fresh voice was needed. Feature films were made in technicolor, but the influx of Indian movies via VCR made it easier to watch better movies at home. Singers imitating Kishore Kumar were on the rise, and careers of Ahmed Rushdi and even the evergreen Muhammad Rafi were going through a crisis. It was the moment that Akhlaq clicked, ably supported by his former singing partner Nadeem.
Although his first song was a funky O chacha mere for M Qavi Khan in Pazeb (1972), he was known as the voice of Nadeem throughout his career. A disciple of Rafi, Akhlaq had to create space for himself in a pool of Rafi soundalikes; Masood Rana, Muhammad Ibrahim and Saleem Shahzad. With Masood Rana opting for Punjabi films, and others deciding against moving to Lahore, Akhlaq’s career spurred on. It was evident that if Nadeem was playing the lead, Akhlaq, would be taking care of the vocals. Be it Bandish (1980), Aahat (1981), Meherbani (1982), Lazawal (1984), Zamin Asman (1985), Faisla (1986), Kundan (1987), Bulandi (1990), Shahzada (1992) or Phool (1994) . Some of the memorable songs of the pair include ho tere sang (Sharafat 1974), Ae dil apna dard (Pehchan 1975), Pyar karti hai (Aina 1977), yehi hai pyaray zindagi (Prince 1978), ke baaja bajnay wala hai, (Saima 1980), chaman chaman kali kali (Aahat), tu hai zindagi (Meherbani), Aap apni misaal hota hai (Lazawal), tu phir mujhay yaad (Zamin Asman), Chaaya nigaho pe jaadu (Faisla), and Bin tere kis tarah (Bulandi).
Aina, featuring Nadeem, had songs by Akhlaq Ahmed
He was the voice behind the iconic song Main Hoon Raastay ka Pathar, which became synonymous with Sultan Rahi. The song, with its poignant portrayal of a victimized soul, is one of the few that Sultan Rahi’s lip-synced on screen. Though a darling for all music directors, Akhlaq became a personal favorite of music director Robin Ghosh, who used his voice on producer/actor Rehman with perfection. Saawan aaye saawan jaye (Chahat 1974) and Dekho yeh Kaun aaya (Do Saathi 1975), are still hummed by love struck youth. Even as the voices of 15-year-old Faisal (Samaa who khwaab sa Samaa and Woh bhi chup thi in Nahin Abhi Nahi 1980) and as the voice of television actor Ahsan Khan for, Yeh Dil from Nikaah 1998, indicates how much Robin Ghosh relied on Akhlaq’s vocals. Some of the non-Robin Ghosh songs by Akhlaq Ahmed are: Do nain milay (Sangam 1977), Taqdeer ke haatho (Aadmi 1978), Yaaro ke yaar bano(Ghairao 1981), Loota Qarar mere man ka (Nadaani 1983) and Pyar karna meri jaan (Zamin Asman 1985).
Akhlaq with Mujeeb Alam
Some of the songs rendered by him were blatantly copied across the border. Sona na Chandi from Bandish (1980) became Choti si Dunya for Salman Khan’s Ek larka ek larki (1992), Kabhi Khwahishon ne loota from Meherbani (1983), was plagiarized by RD Burman for Rajesh Khanna’s Alag Alag (1985), Doorian’s Bas ek tere siva was the basis of Nadeem Sharawan’s Jaane Jigar Jaane Man from Aashiqi (1990) while Faisla’s Zindagi Geet Hai was rendered the same way by Asha Bhosle, Shabbir Kumar and Shailendra Singh, courtesy music director Bappi Lahiri.
Akhlaq with Naheed
Akhlaq Ahmed was a recipient of seven Nigar Awards in his career. The last ten years of his career were quite difficult for him, as he was diagnosed with Blood Cancer. He was being treated in London, where he eventually lost his battle to the disease on 4 August, 1999. It would be 25 years since he died, but the songs he rendered not only became the voice of a generation, but were successful in capturing the spirit the times.
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