Chaman Lal Chaman was a London-based noted Panjabi poet, lyricist and radio broadcaster. He is the writer of a popular Panjabi song, ''saun da mahina'', sung by

Jagjit Singh Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian c ...

in 1979. He also writes in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. He wrote a Bhangra song for Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice, starring

Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ( Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. The winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, she has established herself as one of the most popular celebritie ...

with music by

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is an Indian National Award and Filmfare Award winning musician, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film indus ...

, and many songs and ghazals for

and his wife

Chitra Singh Chitra Singh () is an Indian ghazal singer. She, alongside her husband, Jagjit Singh, popularized the ghazal genre. Respectfully known as the "king and queen of the Ghazal world," the husband and wife duo created some of the most successful Indi ...

. His lyrics has also been sung by noted Indian singers like

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...

and

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

. He worked as a radio presenter in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and interviewed more than a hundred celebrities including,

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Dutt; 6 June 1929 — 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director and politician. Dutt was one of the major stars of Hindi cinema in the late 1950s and 1960s and continued to star in many successful film ...

Jawahar Lal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

and

Naushad Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...

. He was honored in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2010 and was presented the Asian Achievers Gold Award for his achievements in media, art and culture. Chaman Lal Chaman died in 2019.

Early life and works

Chaman was born in a small village in Pasla (now Jalandhar). His mother died when he was a child and his father called him to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

where he worked as a presenter for Kenyan Radio, The Voice of Kenya, in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

during the 1950s and 1960s and interviewed more than a hundred celebrities, including a noted

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actor

when he visited Kenya. Later, spending nearly 18 years, from 1956 to 1974, he moved to

and worked at the Asian service of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and Panjab Radio, UK. He started the first Indian commercial radio programme in London called ''Geetmala'' which became a rage among the Asian diaspora. He also anchored the weekly programmes on BBC's TV One and BBC Radio Four during the 1990s.

Literary works

At the age of 13, he wrote a poem on

Guru Nanak Dev Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

's birthday and was given rupee 1 as an award which stirred his inner poet. After that he wrote many poems and has published three anthologies of his poems. On the 50th anniversary of India and Pakistan's independence, he penned a play, ''Sare Jahan Se Achha'', directed by the noted Punjabi writer

Balwant Gargi Balwant Gargi (4 December 1916 – 22 April 2003) was an Indian Punjabi language dramatist, theatre director, novelist, and short story writer, and academic. Early life On 4 December 1916, in Canal House in Sehna, Barnala (Punjab), Balwant Garg ...

and the music was composed by ghazal singer,

. It was a major success when played in

and other cities of Britain in 1997 and 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaman, Chaman Lal Living people Punjabi-language poets Punjabi-language songwriters BBC radio presenters People from Jalandhar district Hindi-language writers Indian radio presenters 1934 births People from Punjab Province (British India)

Early life and works

Literary works

See also

References