This week would have been the 94th birth anniversary of Mallika-a-Tarannum, Noor Jehan. While fans and celebs alike took to social media and paid homage to the late maestro, her granddaughter, makeup mogul, Natasha Lakhani, took to Insta and shared a throwback video of Noor Jehan. In the video, the Ae Rah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedon crooner could be seen talking about her famous ghazal by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Noor Jehan shared Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat was her own composition, as she was always interested in poetry.
"We organised a charity function back in 1956, 1957 and had to sell tickets worth Rs600,000," Noor Jehan shared. "When I gave the organisers the list of songs I would be performing, they said I won't be performing Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat. I was shocked, as I had just composed it and I really like the poem itself. I was informed by someone who had a certain influence that performing the song won't be possible. I then said that I won't perform at all. It's not like I had a monetary contract with them anyway."
The Chandni Raatain singer added that the organisers agreed to let her sing the aforementioned song. "They told the supervisors that she's a bit stubborn. That was the first time the audience heard that poem. It garnered such praises that the audience was on their feet," she said.
Noor Jehan then recalled how a couple of days later, Faiz visited her house around 2 in the morning. "When I was informed that he was at my door, I just ran towards it," the Pride of Performance winner shared. "I didn't know how to react since it was the first time I was meeting him. Should I hug him, should I keep the distance? Faiz Sahab came forward and embraced me. He then shared that he was only there to express his gratitude. He told me, 'you have so much star power yet you went head-on and fought to perform our poem.' Since that day, we became family friends, we would attend parties together, visit each other's houses."
During a lot of parties, Noor Jehan shared how Faiz was asked to recite the poem the two had worked on. "He would always say that this poem belongs to Noor Jehan and she's the only one who will recite it."Noor Jehan continued on how, with time, she had become extremely engrossed in her own life. "I got married to Ejaz Durrani Sahab, had kids, the career really took off as I had to record three, four songs a day. In all this, I really didn't get time to meet Faiz Sahab. But, now that he's gone, I just wish I had given all that time to him. I still cry whenever I listen to his kalaam. Sadly, we could have met, we could have spent more time together, but circumstances didn't allow so. These are a few regrets I carry with myself. Woh kehtay hain na, 'Yaad-e-Maazi azaab hai ya rab, cheen le mujhse haafiza mera.'"
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