Mohammed Ashraf Munawwar Khan

Mohammed Ashraf Munawwar Khan was born in 1893. He was an actor-singer in Gujarati, Hindi, and Urdu. Munawwar Khan was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He joined the Gujarati theatre as a boy singer in 1903 without any prior training. He was known to be a very naughty pupil till the age of 14. He learnt through experience. Gujarati was not his mother tongue, so the famous director Mulchand Mama corrected his stresses, intonation, and pronunciation in Malavpati Munj i.e. `Munj, Lord of Malwa` in 1924. This production made Ashraf Khan popular as a hero and a singer, for his renderings of two ghazals in it are still remembered. His melodious voice is preserved on later records. Appreciated highly by thousands of playgoers in Gujarat and Bombay, he traveled across India with various companies, starring in some productions for over 2000 performances each. Successful shows included Prithviraj in 1925, Siraj-ud-daullah in 1925, Sattano mad i.e. `Arrogance of Power` in 1928, Samudragiipta in 1931, and Sajjan kaun? i.e. `Who`s the Gentleman?` in 1938. He acted in films, including Mehboob Khan`s classic Roti i.e. `Bread` in 1942, in which he excelled as the wicked Brechtian commentator. His popularity led to one of the earliest Sangeet Natak Akademi awards, in 1959. Mohammed Ashraf Munawwar Khan died in 1962.

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