Inayat Hussain Bhatti

During the 1960s, Bhatti also took to folk theatre acting and singing, and toured the rural hinterland of the Punjab along with his theatre group, where he performed his songs and recitation of the works of the great Sufi poets such as 'Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, Sultan Bahoo and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai'.[6]

During the 1960s and early 1970s, both Bhatti and Alam Lohar dominated the folk theatre genre in Punjab.

In 1996 Bhatti was invited to attend a Cultural Mela in Mohali, India, by the then Minister of East Punjab, Mr. Harnek Singh Gharun, the Indian National Congress leader.

Bhatti was the only male artist in Pakistan film industry who achieved super stardom both as an actor and a singer simultaneously. His first venture, as a film producer was the film Waris Shah (1962), based upon the life and works of the great Sufi poet of Punjab. His second film as a producer Moonh Zor (1965) was also not successful, but then in 1967 his third film Chann Makhna (1968) in which he played the lead role, proved to be a block buster at the box office and received the Nigar Award as the best picture of 1968. This was followed by a string of hit movies such as Sajjan Pyara (1968), Jind Jan (1969), Duniya Matlab Di (1970), Ishq Diwana (1971), and Zulam Da Badla (1972) which transformed Bhatti into a superstar actor of the Punjabi movies. He also produced, directed and acted in three Saraiki language films simultaneously. The themes of all movies produced by him, were based on some social malady of the Punjabi culture.[3]

During his film career, spanning almost five decades, he produced 30 films under the banner of Bhatti Pictures and acted in more than three hundred films. He rendered his voice for approximately 500 films,[6] recording more than 2500 film and non-film songs in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Saraiki languages.

One of his naat in Arabic is regularly broadcast on Radio Pakistan Lahore, during the holy month of Ramadan since the last four decades.

Bhatti's patriotic song Allahu akbar from the film Genghis Khan (1958) has become a signature tune for the Pakistan Army. The music for this song was composed by veteran music director Rasheed Attre.[7]

His female co-stars included Swaran Lata, Zeenat, Nigar Sultana, Bahar Begum, Meena Shorey, Shirin, Yasmeen, Sabira Sultana, Zummarad, Saiqa, Massarat Shaheen, Naghma, Sangeeta, Rani, Firdous, Saloni, Aasiya, Rukhsana Husna, Neelo and Khannum.

Beside his solo career as a playback singer, he is credited with singing hundreds of film duet songs with Noor Jehan and Malika Pukhraj to Mala, Irene Parveen, Zubaida Khanum, Munawar Sultana, Kausar Parveen, Naseem Begum, Nahid Niazi, Tassawar Khanum and Afshan.

As a tribute to this legend, his numerous hit songs have been remixed by the new generation of Pakistani singers including Abrar-ul-Haq, Shazia Manzoor, Naseebo Lal, Arif Lohar and many others.

His film music directors include: Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, Master Inayat Hussain, Ghulam Haider, Asghar Ali, Mohammad Hussain, Rasheed Attre, Safdar Hussain, Gul Haider, Mehnu, Tufail Farooqi, Akhtar Hussain, Rehman Verma, Aashiq Hussain, Qadir Faridi, Rafiq Ali, Shad Amrohi, Taalib Hussain, Kamal Ahmed, Salim Iqbal, Tasadduq Hussain, Mohammad Ali Shabbir, Wazir Ali, M Ashraf, Ustad Tafu, Bhagg Gee, Master Abdullah, Nazir Ali, Bakhshi-Wazir and Wajahat Attre.[8]

Inayat Hussain Bhatti has sung poetry of Sufi poets including Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah, Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.[2][1]

In the early 1970s, he did Bhatti Da Dayrah, a musical cum talk show every week for a year.

In the 1990s, Bhatti compered a series of TV programmes entitled Ujala on the Sufi saints of Pakistan, and wrote its scripts. The series provided the viewers a look in his Sufistic leanings, and the lives and works of the Sufi poets. It earned its producer, Qaisar Ali Shah, the PTV Award for best religious program.

For years his column Challenge graced the Urdu newspaper Daily Pakistan. In this column, he pointed out the maladies of Pakistani society without any fear.[3]

In 1971, he built and donated a complete tuberculosis treatment ward for poor and needy patients in Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore in the name of his mother Barkat Bibi. Until his death in 1999, he supported it financially and with other services.

He was against religious sectarianism and was respected by religious scholars of all shades; the Government of Punjab had, on numerous occasions, sought his help in creating religious harmony by way of appointing him as a member of Ittihad Bainul Muslimeen Organisation and a member of the Peace Committee.

Bhatti also dabbled in politics by joining Pakistan Peoples Party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975. He surprised everyone with his speeches and turned out to be an excellent orator, during the election campaigns of 1977 and 1988, he energetically campaigned for his party, often attending and addressing several different rallies in a single day. During the late 1980s, he was appointed 'secretary of party's cultural wing', a position which he held for a year and then resigned because of his various other commitments.

In 1985 elections, during General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, he contested for a seat in the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA 95, and lost by a narrow margin. Later in his life, he joined All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference of Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan, with whom he shared a cordial relationship.

He was a protagonist of the development of Punjabi language and literature.[3] In the 1970s, along with two other like minded personalities, Mr. Zia Shahid (now chief editor of daily newspaper, Khabrain), and Mr. Masood Khaderposh (a retired bureaucrat), he started the publication of a weekly magazine Kahani (story) for the endorsement of Punjabi language and literature. Bhatti Sahib was also the chairman of Punjab Workers Movement, founded in the 1980s for the same objectives.

He was also an outstanding speaker on different themes of Islam, addressed hundreds of majalis and participated in Muharram congregations regularly.[3]

• For his patriotic songs, Bhatti was bestowed with the following honours by the Pakistan Armed Forces:
• He was the honorary member of numerous army units.

Shields of honour from[1]

• 12 Medium Regiment, Artillery [on the eve of 32nd raising day].
• Officers of 43 Baluch Regiment.
• 48 Signal Battalion [7 January 1993].
• The Century six Artillery Unit.

He was equally popular across the border in East Punjab (India) and was bestowed with the following honours.

• Awarded with a shield and a trophy by Rotary Club Amritsar South [23 July 1980]
• Awarded with a medallion and a trophy on the occasion of 11 December 1996, International Punjabi Cultural Festival at Mohali [26–27 November 1996]
• Awarded a shield by Chandigarh Press Club, Chandigarh, India, presented to him by the honourable Mr. Justice Amarjit Chaudry, acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court [22 October 1997].
• Awarded a shield by the Punjabi Intellectual Forum Chandigarh [25 October 1997]
• shield and a medallion by Sur layamunch Jalandhar [24 December 1997]
• Shield and medallion by Prof. Mohan Singh Foundation, Amritsar [1997]
• After his demise in 1999, Prof. Mohan Singh Foundation Amritsar, announced the "Inayat Hussain Bhatti Memorial Award" as a tribute to him. The first award under this category was awarded to Jasbir Jassi Gurdaspuria of Kudi Kudi fame, in 2001 at Ludhiana, India.