Ghulam Haider Biography 
Ghulam Haider is a very famous music composer of Indian subcontinent. He worked for both India and Pakistan. Lata Mangeshkar was given the first break for playback singing by Haider. He is known for creating a new style of film music combining Indian ragas with Punjabi folk music. Shaheed (1948) and Kaneez (1949) are his biggest hits as a Hindi film composer. Shaheed includes three noted songs of Punjabi folk singer, Surinder Kaur.
Haider was born in 1908 in Hyderabad Sind Division of British India. Now this place is in Pakistan. He was a dentist by profession. But his interest in music prompted him to join music industry. He studied music from Babu Ganesh Lal. When he left the job of dentist to choose music he was opposed by his family. He started working with Alfred Theatrical Company and Alexander Theatrical Company as a piano player in Kolkata. At the same time, he worked with Jenaphone Recording Company as a music composer also. He married famous singer, Umrao Zia Begum with whom he had recorded many songs.
He entered film field as a music composer, for the movie directed by father-son duo Roshan Lal Shorey and Roop Kumar Shorey and A.R. Kardar. His debut movie was Swarg Ki Seerhi released in 1935. But the first major break was Punjabi movie, Gul-E-Bakavali (1939) followed by Yamla Jat (1940). Khazanchi in 1941 placed him as an established music director of film industry. It was his first major hit. Poonji (1943) was another Punjabi hit. Then Haider moved to Mumbai where he started working for Hindi movies. Humayun (1945) and Majboor (1948), Shaheed (1948) and Kaneez (1949) were his major Hindi hits. After partition, he returned to Lahore and started working for Pakistani movies. But he died very soon in 1953 aged 44.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 02, 2014
