The Forgotten Heritage: How Dhurandhar’s Qawwali Connects to Sufi Masters and a Shared Cultural Past
The contemporary cinematic landscape often borrows and repurposes older melodies, occasionally overlooking the rich historical context of the source material. The film Dhurandhar provides a fascinating case study with its use of a specific qawwali. While the track engages modern audiences, its true significance lies in its deep roots in a shared cultural past, linking back directly to legendary Sufi poets and Pakistani musical royalty, a heritage the film itself might inadvertently ignore.
Before this composition found its way into modern cinema, and even before lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi utilized its power, the original piece was a spiritual gem. The genesis of the poem is attributed to the revered Sufi poet, Ameer Bakhsh Sabri. This powerful piece of literature was then set to music and composed by a qawwal duo whose lineage is perhaps the most significant in modern qawwali history: Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan.
This lineage is crucial. Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan were not merely celebrated musicians; they were the father and uncle, respectively, of the man who brought qawwali to global fame, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Therefore, the melody repurposed for Dhurandhar carries the weight of decades of artistic mastery and spiritual devotion from one of the most prominent musical families in the Pothohar region, traditions that flourished across the undivided subcontinent.
The act of repurposing this qawwali, which holds such profound Pakistani origins, serves as an unexpected but beautiful engagement with the subcontinental history that is shared between India and Pakistan. Art and devotion, in their purest forms, rarely acknowledge political boundaries. The themes present in Sabri’s poetry—of love, spirituality, and divine longing—are universal, crossing geographical lines established much later than the song’s initial composition.
By bringing this track into the modern context, Dhurandhar provides a vital, if perhaps unintentional, bridge to a history that many contemporary cinematic narratives tend to sideline. It is a powerful reminder that cultural ownership is complex, fluid, and often shared. The enduring presence of this qawwali in the popular sphere is proof of the magnetic pull of authentic traditional music and the unparalleled skill of the original composers and poets who laid the foundation for these timeless masterpieces. Exploring the layered history of this song allows us to appreciate not just the musical rendition, but the rich, shared fabric of South Asian art and culture.
Read more about the historical context and Pakistani origins of this unique piece here.
