Sardul Singh Kwatra

Early life

Singh was born in 1928 to a Sikh family in Lahore in British Punjab. 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 as an assistant.

Personal life

He was in love with a Muslim girl and composed some tunes celebrating her femininity and charm. He left Lahore in 1947 but his beloved's mesmerising looks lingered in his thoughts and once admitted that he can't create good music without being in love.

Career

After partition, Kwatra family moved to Amritsar and then to Bombay. The first film of Kwatra Production was a Punjabi film, Posti (1950). The entire cast was refugee from Lahore. Sardul picked a young girl Shyama for the female lead. The music of the film was a hit and critically acclaimed. Sardul modified the folk tunes of Punjab and introduced Asha Bhosle and Jagjit Kaur as playback singers for Punjabi films, with Asha Bhosle making her debut. In 1953, another Kwatra Production, Kaude Shah with Shyama as heroine, became a blockbuster. Sardul also composed the music of another Punjabi film Vanjara, in which Lata Mangeshkar sang majority of songs. He also introduced Shaminder as a playback singer. he composed the music for another great Punjabi musical Billo in the later 1950s. He later composed music for some Hindi films from which, Goonj and Mirza Sahiban 1953 are among the hits.

In the mid 1970s he moved to Chandigarh and established the Chandigarh Film Institute in sector 5. His last assignment was a Punjabi film, Ankheeli Mutiar in 1979. He was in Bombay from 1975 with his eldest son. He was great friends with actor Pradeep Kumar. It was struggle, even then he found his way to do whatr he loved the most MUSIC and MOVIES. Then he left for U.S. where he died in 2005.