Ameer Gulam Sadiq

Ameer Ghulam Sadiq was born in Khato Kheel Nowshera Kalan, Pakhtunkhwa in late 1930s, and died in 1998. Although he did not have formal education beyond the primary level, he stands tall among Pakhtun scholars, poets and literary giants. People of his caliber are just rarely born; he was an in-born poet imbued with great poetic spirit. Early on he had realized his love for poetry and considered Pashto poet Abdullah Ustaaz (of Mana Kheel Nowshera) as his teacher. Ameer Ghulam sadiq had a keen sense of Pakhtun culture, its ethos and psyche, which enabled him to connect seamlessly with pashto poetry lovers of all age and background. The soothing and lovely music of great pashto music composers such as Muhammad Rafeeq Shinwari, S.T. Sunny, Fazal Rabi Pardesi, Rahdat Hussain, and Sher Afghan Ustaaz further amplified his impact.
While he was still very popular and had many pashto poetry books to his credit, and his poetry was recorded by best pashto singer of the 1960s (e.g., Fazal Rabi, Ahmad Khan), it was essentially the start of pashto movie production in 1969 that provided the kind of environment he needed to realize his potentials. During the course of 1970 through 1996, he wrote lyrics for over 250 pashto movies. Given an average of 7 lyrics per movie, by conservative estimates this amounts to 1750 songs. Ameer Ghulam Sadiq was well aware how other lyricists fared when it came to prolificacy. In an interview, Ameer Ghulam Sadiq mentioned the number of months Ayub Sabir of Kohat took to write just a few lyrics for a Pashto movie. However, he was not just a prolific poet but wrote quality items that distinguished Ameer Ghulam Sadiq among his peers (e.g., Murad Shinwari, Younas Qiyasi, Ali Haider Joshi, Dilawar Sailab). His lyrics were woven into movie storylines, conveying maturity, coherence and consistency of thought. Early on in his career as a lyricist, he seems to have consciously chosen a characteristic style: including his pen name (SADIQ) in almost all lyrics and the mention of tresses. However, while he wrote of tresses quite often, Sadiq Ustaaz had a much broader perspective encompassing a wide variety of themes.
Ameer Ghulam Sadiq had great love for Pashto movies and appeared in pashto movie Urbal, Tarbur, Elzaam, Deedan, Klashankov and may be a few others. He was a full time lyricist who lived just a few miles from Shah Noor Studio in a one-bed room apartment. Every evening movie directors, film artists and music composers would gather at his apartment.
Ameer Ghulam Sadiq had a unique life style: the profession he had chosen demanded above average intakes of tea, cigarettes full of hashish and snuff (Naswar). Most of his friends often joke that Sadiq Ustaaz qamees (Shirt) had more holes than a sieve—all made by falling bits of burned hashish and cigarettes. Ameer Ghulam Sadiq was a kind hearted and amicable man to converse with. When pashto movie history is written, historians would feel helpless to fully document the contributions of great Ameer Ghulam Sadiq. May Allah bless Ameer Ghulam Sadiq and rest his soul in eternal peace.

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