Inayat Hussain Bhatti

Early career In December 1948, he moved to Lahore to study law and initially stayed at the MAO College Lahore hostel in Lahore. A few months after his arrival in Lahore, he did his first performance on stage at the YMCA Hall, Lahore. After his YMCA auditorium performance, Bhatti accompanied Ijaz Gilani to Radio Pakistan, Lahore, where he met and became a formal pupil of Master Niaz Hussain Shami, a composer then working for Radio Pakistan in Lahore. It was his association with and training under Master Shami, which facilitated Bhatti's participation in regular radio programs as a singer. He sometimes used to accept character roles in plays broadcast by the Lahore station of Radio Pakistan. Rafi Peer, a playwriter, asked him to be the lead role in his play Akhian (Eyes).

His female co-stars included Swaran Lata, Zeenat, Nigar Sultana, Bahar Begum, Meena Shorey, Shirin, Yasmeen, Sabira Sultana, Zummarad, Saiqa, Massarat Shaheen, Naghma, Sangeeta, Rani, Firdous, Saloni, Aasiya, Rukhsana Husna, Neelo and Khannum.

Music Beside his solo career as a playback singer, he is credited with singing hundreds of film duet songs with Noor Jehan and Malika Pukhraj to Mala, Irene Parveen, Zubaida Khanum, Munawar Sultana, Kausar Parveen, Naseem Begum, Nahid Niazi, Tassawar Khanum and Afshan.

As a tribute to this legend, his numerous hit songs have been remixed by the new generation of Pakistani singers including Abrar-ul-Haq, Shazia Manzoor, Naseebo Lal, Arif Lohar and many others.

His film music directors include: Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, Master Inayat Hussain, Ghulam Haider, Asghar Ali, Mohammad Hussain, Rasheed Attre, Safdar Hussain, Gul Haider, Mehnu, Tufail Farooqi, Akhtar Hussain, Rehman Verma, Aashiq Hussain, Qadir Faridi, Rafiq Ali, Shad Amrohi, Taalib Hussain, Kamal Ahmed, Salim Iqbal, Tasadduq Hussain, Mohammad Ali Shabbir, Wazir Ali, M Ashraf, Ustad Tafu, Bhagg Gee, Master Abdullah, Nazir Ali, Bakhshi-Wazir and Wajahat Attre.

Inayat Hussain Bhatti has sung poetry of Sufi poets including Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah, Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.

Pakistan Army For his patriotic songs, Bhatti was bestowed with the following honours by the Pakistan Armed Forces: He was the honorary member of numerous army units. Shields of honour from

12 Medium Regiment, Artillery [on the eve of 32nd raising day]. Officers of 43 Baluch Regiment. 48 Signal Battalion [7 January 1993]. The Century six Artillery Unit.

In India He was equally popular across the border in East Punjab (India) and was bestowed with the following honours. Awarded with a shield and a trophy by Rotary Club Amritsar South [23 July 1980] Awarded with a medallion and a trophy on the occasion of 11 December 1996, International Punjabi Cultural Festival at Mohali [26–27 November 1996] Awarded a shield by Chandigarh Press Club, Chandigarh, India, presented to him by the honourable Mr. Justice Amarjit Chaudry, acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court [22 October 1997]. Awarded a shield by the Punjabi Intellectual Forum Chandigarh [25 October 1997] shield and a medallion by Sur layamunch Jalandhar [24 December 1997] Shield and medallion by Prof. Mohan Singh Foundation, Amritsar After his demise in 1999, Prof. Mohan Singh Foundation Amritsar, announced the "Inayat Hussain Bhatti Memorial Award" as a tribute to him. The first award under this category was awarded to Jasbir Jassi Gurdaspuria of Kudi Kudi fame, in 2001 at Ludhiana, India.