By Omair Alavi Following the career of Birthday Boy Jawad! Jawad Ahmad has been around for 2 decades now; we have all witnessed his ascent from a lead singer of a band to a renowned music director and boy, he has done the country proud with his songs. How many vocalists from Pakistan can claim…
SAMAA | Omair Alavi – Posted: Sep 29, 2017 | Last Updated: 4 years ago
By Omair Alavi
Following the career of Birthday Boy Jawad!
Jawad Ahmad has been around for 2 decades now; we have all witnessed his ascent from a lead singer of a band to a renowned music director and boy, he has done the country proud with his songs. How many vocalists from Pakistan can claim that Bollywood has credited him for a song he composed rather than copying it; he has also managed to sing a duet with Asha Bhosle and deliver patriotic songs as well. Let’s follow his career on his 47th Birthday through his 10 songs by him as either the singer, composer or both.
Baqi Sab Theek Hai (1997)
Jawad Ahmad was part of Jupiters in the 90s when this song became popular; the song brought him recognition along with a Sufi number after which he decided to go solo, for good.
Ucchayan Majajan Aali (2000)
This song was the beginning of the Jawad Ahmad era where he introduced a signature style of filming his music videos; he would stand in front of a group of dancers and sing the song while models and actors would enact the story. The video of this song was not only a chartbuster but also helped launch the career of Ahmad Butt, the model who went on to marry Humera Arshad and act in a handful of films.
Dholna (2001)
Jawad Ahmad’s rise continued with every passing year and before he turned music director for a feature film, he gained as much experience as he could before that. Dholna was one of the most popular songs at the turn of the century when our pop music was better than any in the region.
Bin Tere Kia Hai Jeena (2001)
With Shaan’s Moosa Khan, Jawad Ahmad became one of the few pop singers to venture into composing songs for films. He used his hit song Bin Tere in the film (it was also used in a Bollywood venture as well) and although his vocals didn’t suit Shaan’s, the soundtrack impressed all, making it to music charts all over the country.
Lagi Lagi Re (2001)
Jawad Ahmad’s hadn’t composed any song for others before his film debut but when he did, he came up with gems like Main To Piya Ki, Yeh Pagal Jo Dil Hai and this number where Saima dances her heart out in the dacoit’s den. The beat still makes you tap your feet, no?
Dosti (2003)
Then there was the patriotic song where Jawad Ahmad excelled in every possible way. The song featured new actors but the way they acted was amazing; hats off to Ahsan Rahim for directing the video that reminded one of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. The song is still popular despite being more than a decade old and hasn’t been bettered yet.
Mehndi OST (2003)
The Official Sound Track (OST) of Mehndi was one of the first in Pakistan and Jawad Ahmad excelled as the music director as well as the vocalist. In his typical style, he stood his ground and delivered the song for a drama that featured Humayun Saeed, Aijaz Aslam, Adnan Siddiqui and Kamran Jeelani besides Ayesha Khan, Amna Haq and Fiza Ali. What’s troubling is the fact that most of the cast members haven’t changed in 15 years!
Dil Ke Tar Bajay (2007)
Renowned director Javed Fazil’s final film Main Ek Din Laut Kay Aaonga marked the return of Jawad Ahmad to films and he delivered a brilliant soundtrack that featured the vocals of Bollywood singers as well as Pakistanis. Jawad got to sing a duet with the legendary Asha Bhosle that was filmed on Humayun Saeed who was playing the 2.0 version of Ahmad Butt.
Main Ek Din Laut Kay Aaonga (2007)
Here is the song in which you get to know the whole story of the film; it was the Pakistani version of Karz with plastic surgery replacing the reincarnation theme. All the songs of Jawad’s film were arranged by Sahir Ali Bagga who himself is now a renowned music composer.
Main Tainu Samjhawan (2010)
Before he became involved in politics and humanitarian work, Jawad Ahmad bowed out of films with this gem for Indo – Pak production Virsa. The song was later recreated in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya with Arijit Singh and Alia Bhatt singing separate versions. However, the Rahat Fateh Ali Khan original remains the best of the lot and has a soothing effect for listeners even after 7 years.
