PUNJABI CINEMA'S actress: ANJUMAN at her MOST STUNNING in her UNIQUE ICON of 'QUEEN OF THE PUNJAB' in this 1986 BHANGRA CLASSIC: 'Akheiyan De Pawn De Tikili'. ANJUMAN alongside 'KING of the PUNJAB': SULTAN RAHI and his BANDIT RIVAL: MUSTAFA QURESHI ruled LAHORIE CINEMA for a DECADE in the 80s. The EARTH-SHATTERING VOCAL of NOOR JEHAN with HUGE PERCUSSION and VIOLIN ORCHESTRA courtesy of EMI MALL ROAD STUDIOS added to a VISUAL, CULTURAL and AURAL EXPLOSION that really has no RIVAL on the face of the earth. These FILMS and their SONGS are TOTALLY UNIQUE. The AUTHOR of the book, 'PAKISTAN CINEMA', MUSHTAQ GAZDAR states, "The iconography, particularly of 1980s Pakistani Cinema has the most unique images in the world".
The absolute THRILL of this SONG that is SCREAMING ONTO every SENSE of the VIEWER is just UNEARTHLY JOY and CELEBRATION of being PUNJABI!
In the SCHEME of THINGS...ANJUMAN is 'HEER', the PUNJAB MYTHOLOGY HEROINE, nothing to do with HINDUISM, but of FEUDAL PUNJAB. And SULTAN RAHI, is 'RANJHA', or the PUNJAB'S MYTHOLOGICAL HERO, again not a BHARAT thing but a PUNJAB or 'PAANCH AB' phenomenon. PAANCH being FIVE and AB being WATER...The PUNJAB is the meeting of FIVE RIVERS and all of the LUSH FARMLAND of PLENTY. That ABUNDANCE of WATER and FOOD makes for the LOUD and COLOURFUL PERSONALITY of the PUNJABI with HEARTY APPETITE and FOLK DANCE BHANGRA that CELEBRATES the BUMPER CROPS of the REGION.
PUNJAB is COLOUR and NOISE. And BIG PERSONALITIES of COLOUR and NOISE. ANJUMAN in her CINEMA-CREATED 'lachcha' skirts that have been scarce in PAKISTAN since the 1970s MANDATE of BHUTTO to STOP WEARING LACHCHA for the PATHAN/TURKIC clothes of SHALWAR TROUSER for a more 'CIVILISED' COUNTRY. Yet LACHCHA is ENSHRINED in the PUNJABI MYTHOLOGY of LAHORIE CINEMA, even though, apart from ME, occasionally, NOBODY ever WEARS the TIED MALE and FEMALE FLOOR-LENGTH SKIRT. I must say that my EXPERIENCE of LACHCHA in LAHORE myself does BEAR OUT the ADVICE of LOCALS that "Be careful, lachcha is dangerous to wear!"...As mischievous chaps on motorbikes do try to GRAB THE WAIST KNOT of the LACHCHA as they PASS to PULL IT OFF for a LAUGH! Or, the TWO FRIENDS who COME and ENGAGE one in CONVERSATION while the THIRD FRIEND GOES BEHIND ONE and GRABBING the LACHCHA by the BOTTOM HEM, PULLS IT UP to ONE'S THIGHS...For a laugh! Crazy times with the PUNJABIS! But the IMMORTALISING of PUNJABI MYTHOLOGY, DANCE, CLOTHING and CULTURE in LAHORE'S CINEMA is very NOBLE and COURAGEOUS as the ONSLAUGHT of WESTERN DUMBING DOWN and WESTERN OBEDIENCE and CRITICISM for REFUSING to COMPLY rains down on LAHORE SCREEN. But the PAKISTANIS are very MODERN and very CULTURAL at the SAME TIME. They have their OWN WAY of DOING THINGS and WILL NOT be COLONISED... ; )
It is difficult to say what is more WILD in this SONG, the VOICES of the VIOLINS or the VOCAL of the SINGER: NOOR JEHAN. Really, the PAKISTANI FILM SONG 'SONIC' is something of a 'AIRLINER SKY BOOM'! The CLOSE-MIC MAGNIFICATION of TINY SOUNDS and TURBO BOOSTING in the MIX AWASH with ELECTRIC ECHO...SUCH a SERRATED SHRIEK of COLOUR in a WORLD of MUTED DUMBED-DOWN, COLONIALISED RECORDINGS that MAKE UP the MODERN WORLD...These LAHORIE STUDIO SONGS are something of a WHOLE WORLD EARTHQUAKE to the EARS.
NOOR JEHAN was in her 60s when she SANG these SONGS. They are TIGHT THROAT EXTREME SONGS of the RECORDING STUDIO that seem to have DAMAGED the SINGER'S THROAT permanently judging by SPOKEN INTERVIEWS she did in the 1990s. But in the 80s PUNJABI EXPLOSION when the SEDATE MODERATED TONES of 70s URBAN URDU CINEMA had FADED OUT OF FASHION...NOOR JEHAN was the ONLY VOCALIST who could BELT these NUMBERS OUT with such FORCE, or APPARENT FORCE, as her VOICE was QUIET and AMPLIFIED in the MIX GREATLY. Many of the earlier singers like NAHID AKHTAR, MEHNAZ, RUNA LAILA and even RAUCOUS: AFSHAAN, could not COMPETE with that BOMB of a VOCAL that was NOOR JEHAN. There is a PARALLEL to EGYPT'S OUM KHALTOUM and NOOR JEHAN as 'NATIONAL SINGERS' who SANG for DIFFERENT LEADERS and POLITICS but whose FORCEFUL and quite MASCULINE VOICES MOVE the NATION. Even BEYOND the GRAVE, NOOR and OUM are BIZARRE MANLIKE FEMALE NATIONALISTIC CHANTS that FILL the EVENING AIR FOREVER and EVER.
The VIOLINS are PLAYED HILARIOUSLY UNWESTERN. The SOUND of the AGGRESSIVE PERCUSSIVE SCRAPES in MONODIC ARCHITECTURES compared to the POLITE SQUEAKS of EUROPEAN MOZART is a HUMOROUS PARODY of the INSTRUMENT and its 'DELIGHTFUL' ROLE in POLITE FIRST WORLD CONCERT MUZAK. The VIOLIN WRITING is UNIDIOMATIC, created, ironically, on WESTERN TEMPERED HARMONIUM under the FINGERS. Then TRANSFERRED to these AWKWARD SHAPES of RASPING PUNJABI THRILLS of SHRIEKING NOISE and RAW COLOUR! The CLOSE MIC, HARD BOWING, CHEAP CHINESE VIOLINS and LASHINGS of REVERB make for a DISCORDANT STRING CHOIR!
The SET is DIVINE. A totally ARTIFICIAL EDIFICE with RESEMBLANCE to a SUFI SHRINE [?] where the DREAM OF BLUE GODDESS ANJUMAN wakes SLUMBERING SULTAN w
