Saleem Raza

Here are some figures & facts about Saleem Raza's singing career:

• Saleem Raza's first film as playback singer was Karnama but Karachi made Urdu film Anokhi was his first released film in 1956. The first film song was Mari Laila ne aisi katar, Mian Majnu ko aaya bukhar.. was filmed on Diljeet Mirza.
• His first hit song was from Lahore made film Saperan in 1961 with the lyrics Chand sa Mukhra, gora badan.. which was filmed on Habib and music composer was Manzoor Ashraf (first film).
• He got breakthrough from film Mehtab's (1962) mega hit street song Gol Gappe wala aya, gol gappe laya.. in 1962 which was filmed on Allauddin.
• His first Punjabi film was Chodhary in 1962 and the first Punjabi song was filmed on Asif Jah, which was Pyar tera main jholi paya te taaney marey Sharikan.. (duet with Nazir Begum)
• He became 1960's "Abrar-ul-Haq" after his western style song Koko-koreena.. in film Armaan (1966)
• Saleem Raza's peak period was from 1963-77. His last film as playback singer was Mashiq-o-Maghrib in 1985.
• According to his fans Saleem Raza sang 812 Urdu, 132 Punjabi (?), 3 Sindhi, 3 Gujarati and a single English song - a total number of 951 film songs. These figures are without songs from unreleased films and none-film songs.
• Saleem Raza's 951 songs in 508 released films could be a record for any male singer in Pakistani films but according to the incomplete songography of Masood Rana, his songs are 887 in 574 released films. Followed by Mehdi Hassan's 631 songs in 445 films (complete figures)
• Saleem Raza sang the highest number of 812 Urdu songs in the highest number of 421 Urdu films. Followed by Mehdi Hassan's 542 songs in 368 films (complete figures) and Masood Rana's 357 Urdu songs in 213 films (incomplete figures).
• Saleem Raza sang 132 Punjabi songs in 75 Punjabi films, (which is unconfirmed!). He was not successful in Punjabi films and sang mostly B- or C-class songs. But his Punjabi songs tally is the third highest by any male singer in Pakistan after Masood Rana's 526 songs in 360 Punjabi films (incomplete figures) and Inayat Hussain Bhatti's 222 songs in 114 films (complete figures)
• Saleem Raza sang the highest number of songs for Waheed Murad and set a record for the first ever "century partnership" by any male singer and actor. The only other example is by Mehdi Hassan-Mohammad Ali pair.
• Saleem Raza sang more than 100 songs with Mala, which is all time Pakistani record.
• Saleem Raza sang more than 100 songs with music director M. Ashraf.
• Saleem Raza set the record for maximum numbers of male songs as playback singer in a calender year in 1969.