Sardul Singh Kwatra was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

film director and music composer. He composed music for

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 ...

and Punjabi films.

Early life

Kwatra was born in 1928 to a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

British Punjab Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...

. He was very fond of music since his childhood. During his school days he got his initial training in classical music from Sardar Avtar Singh of Lahore. Later joined popular music director

Hansraj Behl Hansraj Behl (19 November 1916 – 20 May 1984) was an Indian music composer, who composed music both for Hindi and Punjabi films. Early life and education Born in Ambala, British Punjab, Hansraj received his early education in music from ...

as an assistant.

Career

After

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

, Kwatra's family moved to

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

and then to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The first film of ''Kwatra Production'' was a Punjabi film, Posti (1950). The entire cast were refugees from

. Kwatra picked

Shyama Shyama may refer to: * Shyama (Hindi actress) (1935–2017), Indian actress in Hindi films * Shyama (Malayalam actress) (?–1996), Indian actress in Malayalam and Tamil films * Shyama (Jain monk) ( 247 BC–151 BC), Jain monk * Shama Dulari ( 19 ...

for the female lead. The music of the film was a hit and critically acclaimed. Kwatra modified the folk tunes of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and introduced

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 ...

and

Jagjit Kaur Jagjit Kaur (May 1930 – 15 August 2021) was an Indian Hindi/Urdu singer and was married to the music director, Mohammed Zahur Khayyam. Personal life and death Kaur belonged to an aristocratic family from Punjab. She married composer Mohamme ...

, who was married to

Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi (18 February 1927 – 19 August 2019), better known Mononymous person, mononymously as Khayyam, was an Indian music director and background score composer whose career spanned four decades. He won three Filmf ...

, as playback singers for Punjabi films, with Asha Bhosle making her debut. In 1953, another Kwatra Production,

Kaude Shah ''Kaude Shah'' (also spelled as ''Koday Shah'' or ''Kode Shah'') is a 1953 Indian Punjabi-language film directed by S.P. Bakshi (Shanti Prakash Bakshi). The film stars include Daljit, Shyama, Miss Manju, Thakur Ramesh Nagpal, Chand Burqe, Ra ...

with Shyama as heroine, became a success at the box office. Kwatra also composed the music of another Punjabi film Vanjara, in which

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

sang majority of songs. He also introduced Shaminder as a playback singer. He later composed music for some

films from which, Goonj and

Mirza Sahiban 1953 Mirza may refer to: * Mirza, Kamrup, town in Assam, India * Mirza (name), historical royal title & noble * ''Mirza'', the genus of giant mouse lemur * "Mirza", song by Nino Ferrer * ''Mirza – The Untold Story'', Punjabi action romance film wri ...

are both successful. In the mid 1970s Kwatra moved to

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

and established the

Chandigarh Film Institute Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

in sector 5. His last assignment was a Punjabi film, ''Unkhilli Muttiar'' in 1983. He lived in Bombay from 1975 with his eldest son. He was great friends with actor Pradeep Kumar. Kwatra left for

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

where he died on 06.07.2005.

Personal life

Kwatra was in love with a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

woman and composed some music celebrating her femininity and charm. He left

in 1947 but his partner's appearance was constantly on his mind and once admitted that he "can't create good music without being in love."

Movies

Kwatra's song, "Tu Aaye Na Aaye” sang by

Talat Mahmood Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) was an Indian playback singer who is considered one of the popular male Indian film song and ghazal singers. Although he tried his luck as a film actor, he did not succeed a great deal in actin ...

, was used in the 1952 movie '' Bewafa'' * Ek Teri Nishani (1949) * Jalte Deep (1950) * Man ka Meet (1950) * Shagan (1951) combine with Husnlal - Bhagatram *

Posti Posti can refer to: * ''Posti'' (1950 film), a Punjabi film * Posti Group, the Finnish national post office * Posti, Estonia, a place in south-eastern Estonia * Posti SA, tea company in Poland * ''Posti'' (2022 film), a Punjabi film {{Disa ...

(1951) Punjabi movie * Goonj (1952) Home production movie banner under Kwatra Art Production's Ltd * Mirza Sahiban (1953) * Koday Shah (1953) Punjabi movie Home production movie banner under Kwatra Films * Pilpili Saheb (1954) Home production movie banner under Kwatra Films * Vanjara (1954) Punjabi movie * Tees Maar Khan (1955) * Son of Ali Baba (1955) * Kala Chor (1956) * Char Minar (1956) * ''Adalat'' (1958 film) Act only * Lady Robinhood (1959) * Heer Sayal (1960) Punjabi Movie Directed by he's brother H.S Kwatra Home production movie banner under watra Pictures* Air Mail (1960) * Dekha Jayega (1960) * Gypsy Girl (1961) * Khilari (1961) * Billo (1961) Punjabi movie * Deccan Queen (1962) * Kala Chashma (1962) * Chandrashekhar Azad (1963) * Satluj De Kande (1964) Punjabi movie * Accident (1965) * Raj Karega Khalsa-Shabad Gurbani with Mahandar Kapoor Released:1971 Lyrics By – H.S Kohli * Daku Mansingh (1971) * Yamla Jatt (1977) Punjabi movie * Lambardarni (1980) Punjabi movie * Do Posti (1981) Punjabi movie * Bagga Daku (1983) Punjabi Movie * Patwari (1983) Punjabi movie * Unkhilli Muttiar (1983) Punjabi movie

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwatra, Sardul Singh Indian male composers Indian Sikhs People from Lahore People from Chandigarh Punjabi people 1928 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Indian composers 20th-century male musicians Indian expatriates in the United States