The Curious Case of…. Jawad Ahmed

Updated: An Image of Mehreen Raheel photoshoot was found, and is attached at the end

The blog is still evolving. I have pretty much no idea what it would be after a few months, but it would be interesting to find out. I’m starting a new category named “The Curious Case of..”, where I would look at a particular personality/item/place, whatever inspires me to waste some time on youtube. First up: Jawad Ahmed!

Jawad Ahmed is a difficult person to like. He doesn’t have the classic looks, he doesn’t any charisma, he talks like a buffoon, not all his songs are for the connoisseur, and he had mullet once.

Having said that, he has a knack of producing some gems, whenever he can get something right.

So why in the world am I talking about Jawad Ahmed? He composed the music of an upcoming Punjabi movie called Virsa. It is one of those (oh-no) India Pak collaborations (Aman ki fracking Asha!) with Arya Babbar, Gulshan Grover, and *Dil-Dil-Mehreen Raheel* (I was told there’s an infamous Chocolate-themed Mehreen Raheel photospread in MAG! Google Images have disappointed me!)

There isn’t a great amount of information available on the movie, apart from that Jawad Ahmed is one of the producers of the movie. AND, I kind of like the soundtrack of the movie, with the highlight of the album being Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Main Tenun Samjhawaan.

However, Jawad Ahmed scores with two songs as well, with “Hua Hua” and “Yadaan”. I don’t know why I like these songs. I can imagine myself being apathetic to these songs, in any other situation. And yes, there are apparently farangi dancers!

Fun fact: Apparently Jawad Ahmed was my neighbor, till we moved when I was 4.

Jawad Ahmed first came in our lives wearing a red hat! Yes, my kind reader, his first famous gig was being the model in that Hadiqa Kiyani video “Jaan-e-Jaana“. Hadiqa and Jawad were being couply and cute, doing something all Lahoris did in early 1990s. Walk around Pace, and not buying a single thing.

However, Jawad Ahmed started off as the lead vocalist of The Jupiters, replacing the once-Shahansha-e-Rock Ali Azmat. He also left The Jupiters to sought greener pastures (As a side note, check out Ali Azmat’s days with the Jupiters).

Soon he released his first single. The truly EPIC, Allah Meray Dil Ke Andar!

This was THE song, which preceded the Junoon’s sufi-rock phase by a few years!

Most of the first album was more or less devotional, driven by his belting vocals, especially Lai Main Uchiyaan Nal Yaari. Unfortunately for all of us, his second big hit from his album was the token Punjabi-Bhangra song “Kehndi Ae Sayyan Mein”. Though it was a decent song, but the immense success of the song made Jawad more or less a Bhangra singer. It catapulted him to stardom in a genre that never suited him that much.  Most of his subsequent (very-Punjabi) themed albums were below par, and some songs were horrible. I don’t even want to link some songs here, but go Youtube “Jawad Ahmed Taaray Dub Gaye Ne”(which incidentally also stars Mehreen!). It is sad, very sad, because he could come up with a gem like this.

And then he had somewhat of a revival when he composed the music for for a movie directed by Shaan, called Moosa Khan(2001). That movie’s soundtrack was a gem! From the Shabnam Majeed’s “Main to Piya Ki Thee” and Saima’s sultry performance on Naghmana Jaffery’s “Lagi Lagi”(Special Mention for Saima’s runway crawl at 2:48)

To Noor’s sizzling item number “Yeh Pagal jo Dil Hay” in the best location, the Villains’ Den. (Special Mention: Noor’s Side-Split at 3:52. It seems to be her forte as she also does the same thing in Mujhay Chand Chahiyeh (2000) also by Shaan)

And, this Epic climax, with its Epic background music (I can write a whole essay on this Climax scene). The whole 10 min clip is worth watching, because it has religion, a kid throwing grenades, a horse helping the kid, Shafqat Cheema, most epic explosions, bullets stopping mid-air, more explosions, Shaan walking away non-challantly from the explosions, a battle of good-vs-evil, and a SNAKE!

Also, he composed the music for the movie “Main Ek Din Laut Ke Aounga”(2007), which looked as interesting as watching mould grow on your strawberries. The movie had pretentions to be sophisticated, and it got rid of the wackiness that should define Lollywood, and it rightfully fell flat (apart from one scene where the dog recognizes his owner, after he went through a face transplant, while his mother and sister couldn’t recognize him). The one borderline decent song would be this, partly because it has Saba Hameed in it looking all gorgeous.

So let’s see how this movie pans out. I believe its being released on May 7th. And it has gori extras as well…..

P.S. Thanks to Kiran, we have a preview of that photoshoot!

I Am Yummy, Indeed!