Sardar Malik Biography 
Sardar Malik was a famous and talented music director of Bollywood yesterdays. Famous music director of present times who completely dominated the era of 1990s’s, Anu Malik is his son. His second son Daboo Malik is a talented singer who has hosted many television shows on Doordarshan. Playback singer and voice actor Armaan Malik is his grandson. He is one among those forgotten stars of yesterdays who is not counted among top 5. Yet he is remembered for the priceless and immortal music pieces, the best among those being - Main gharibon ka dil hun watan ki zuban, Saranga teri yaad mein and Ae gham-e-dil kya karun. Saaranga released in 1960 was one of his masterpiece works.
He was born in 13th January 1925 in Kapurthala, Punjab. His father was a painting contractor and his mother belonged to a rich Rajput family. His pseudonym ‘Malik’ comes from the maternal side of his family. He learnt harmonium from his friend and at a young age of 7, he taught kids of courtiers of the Kapurthala Maharaj’s court for a monthly amount of rupees 5. Once he happened to hear a song, ‘jiya mera lehraye chhaai kaali ghata’ at a harlot and decided to learn Hindustani music. But his family opposed it and hence he left home to Lahore. He learnt Hindustani music from none other than the doyen of Maihar Gharana school of music, Ustad Allauddin Khan and was also trained as a dancer under Uday Shankar at his residential school at Almora. He learnt ballet, yoga, Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Manipuri dance from Uday Shankar’s institute.
Very soon he got many music assignments as a singer and composer. Seeing the rise of independent playback singers such as Rafi and Mukesh, he completely concentrated on to music composition as he felt that he can’t match their qualities. He was married to Kausar Jahan, sister of famous lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri. Renuka (1947), Raaz (1949) and Stage (1951) were his first films as a composer and his first noted work was Laila Majnu (1953). Ae Gham-e-dil kya karun in Thokar (1954) sung by Talak Mehmood was a huge sensation in those days. He passed away in 2006.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 26, 2014
