Songs of Paradise movie review: Saba Azad shows pleasing strength and vulnerability

The film opens with a young scholar (Tarruk Raina) trying to interview the older version of Noor, played by the wonderful Soni Razdan. Why, she asks. So that her story may be told to a generation which has forgotten her. In her time and in her kind of conservative Muslim family — her father is tailor who stitches women’s garments, and her mother (Sheeba Chadha, excellent as ever) keeps the home fires burning — there was no question of a ‘respectable girl’ not only singing, but making a profession of it, even if one of the most respected teachers (Shishir Sharma) of ‘mausiki’ thinks that she has a voice which the world needs to hear.

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But for a film whose source is extraordinary, the beats are familiar. Noor has brought shame to the family and the neighbourhood; the only way out is to marry an elderly man with children, cries her mother. Of course, the handsome England-returned gent (Zain Khan Durrani) comes to rescue. He has his own poetic way of speaking which feels like dialogues in a few places: zindagi ke raaste mein paththar ayenge, or meel ke paththar bhi, calling Noor his ‘humsafar’ in their ‘safar’.

According to the hasty epilogue, Noor’s story was an inspiration to many younger women who started signing up to work in radio. You are not just a singer, says her admiring husband, you are a revolution, an Inquilab. That said, the film steers clear of any political touches\: what was going on in the state at that time? Did it seep into the voice and the music of Noor?

We do not know.

Songs of Paradise movie cast: Saba Azad, Soni Razdan, Zain Khan Durrani, Sheeba Chadha, Shishir Sharma, Tarruk Raina
Songs of Paradise movie rating: 2 stars
Songs of Paradise movie director: Danish Renzu