Chann Wey (1951)

Chanway or Chan Wey (transl. O, Moon) is a 1951 Pakistani Punjabi-language film directed Noor Jehan (in her directorial debut) with the supervision of Shaukat Hussain Rizvi.

It was written by Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj. Feroz Nizami provided the music for the film's soundtrack. It premiered in Lahore's Regent Cinema on 24 March 1951.

The film was the first Pakistani film directed by a woman. "Mundeya Sialkotiya" was a popular track from the film's soundtrack.

Cast

The cast of the film includes:

Noor Jehan as Seema

Santosh Kumar as Feroze

Ghulam Mohammad as Fazal

Jahangir Khan as Aslam

Saleem Raza as Chiragh

Nafees Begum as Khairaan

Himalyawala as Doctor

Yasmin as Shaddo

Production

After migrating from India, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi established his Shahnoor Studios and decided to produce a film. He was advised to produce film in Punjabi because at that time Punjabi films such as Pheray (1949) and Laraay (1950) were commercially successful rather than Urdu films. So, he directed and produced Chan Wey and his spouse Noor Jehan was credited as the director because he himself did not know Punjabi. Thus, it became the first Pakistani film by a female director.

The film also marked Noor Jehan's return to the screen since her last film Jugnu (1947), also directed by Rizvi and had music composed by Nizami.

Release and reception

The film premiered on 24 March 1951 in Lahore's Regent cinema. It became commercially successful with a theatrical run of 18 weeks.

Soundtrack

Feroz Nizami composed the film's music on the lyrics of F.D. Sharf and Ustad Daman. All songs were performed by Noor Jehan except one, which was performed by Ali Bakhsh Zahoor.

Track listing

References

External links

Chan Wey at IMDb