Language: Punjabi
Documentary film “Suraan di Malika – The Queen of Punjabi Folk Songs” is dedicated to Bibi Surinder Kaur and maa boli Punjabi; this film is directed by Beenu Rajpoot and produced by Beenu Rajpoot Films, Supported by Dolly Guleria.
“It was my childhood dream to make a film on Bibi Surinder Kaur ji. Because I have been listening too many of her songs since childhood. In our village, all the ladies (15-20 ladies) used to spin the charkha together in a very big courtyard and sing their songs; I have seen all this in my childhood”, said by Beenu Rajpoot, the film director.
When I spoke to Dolly Guleria, daughter of Bibi Surinder Kaur ji, to make the film on her mother, she immediately agreed. In this way the work of the film started. In this film, I have done lots of research, met many people including music directors, singers, bollywood actors etc. then this film has been prepared. For some reason it has not been released yet. But hopefully it will be soon, shared by Beenu Rajpoot.
The story of this film revolves around the music journey of Bibi Surinder Kaur. Actually, till now many films have been made on him. But in this film you will get to see an untouched aspect of her life which has not been shown in any film before.
The family had nothing to do with music Bibi Surinder Kaur was born on 25 November 1929 in a Sikh family in Lahore, Punjab, before the partition of India-Pakistan. She had seven siblings. The amazing thing is that Surinder's house had never had anything to do with music, so she was not allowed to sing and play. But seeing Surinder's inclination towards music, his elder brother supported her and with great difficulty persuaded her family members to allow music education for Surinder and her elder sister Prakash Kaur. As a result, at the age of 12, Surinder and her sister Prakash Kaur started taking classical music lessons from Master Inayat Hussain and master Pandit Mani Prasad.
It was Surinder Kaur (1929-2006), younger of the two, who achieved greater fame as a singer with a sonorous voice and lively manner and conquered hearts home and abroad. She was the queen of Punjabi folk as well as the poetry of her times singing verses of Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Think of her and songs that come visiting from memory are immortal numbers like ‘Maavan te dheean’, ‘Jutti Kasuri’, ‘Kala doriya’, ‘Lathe di chaddar’, and many more. Indeed, she was the voice of Punjab until the mid-eighties when the old melodies made way for the pop-Punjabi.
Dolly Guleria, daughter of Bibi Surinder Kaur (born on Baisakhi) who is proudly carrying forward her mother's legacy with her daughter and granddaughter. She has penned down many important incidents in detail in her autobiography ‘Wagde Paaniyan da Sangeet’. Dolly Guleria is the most sophisticated singer and world widely recognised like her mother.
Surinder Kaur, Suraan di Malika