शबनम क्यूँ नीर बहाए

'Shabnam Kyun Neer Bahaye' is one of the most discussed numbers from Ishaara, the 1943 film that launched composer Khwaja Khurshid Anwar in Hindi cinema. Sung by Gauhar Sultana — whom Anwar is said to have brought from Lucknow especially for this film — the song is repeatedly singled out as the track whose popularity established the young composer's reputation. It sits at the centre of any account of how Anwar arrived as a major musical voice.

Khurshid Anwar's debut composition here is built on a refined, melody-first sensibility steeped in classical training — the very approach that would make him one of the subcontinent's most respected composers. Gauhar Sultana's voice, fresh to Bombay from Lucknow, gives the lament its plaintive colour.