The Club (short for Night Club) was a western evil imported into Pakistani Cinema primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, meeting its end with the advent of Disco. In its heyday, it was the primary draw of Pakistani cinema, showcasing stunning dance numbers and songs that ironically moralized about the perils of freedom, preaching that good girls belong at home - cooking, cleaning, sewing, and caring for their husbands. The club embodied delinquency and revolt, a defiant kick against convention. It gloriously celebrated everything deemed evil and sinful.

The bad girls were always more fascinating than their docile counterparts - stirring up storms of immoral debauchery and lust. The shitkicker proved invariably more attractive than the dowdy goody two shoes, even if she ultimately met a woeful fate for her wanton ways.

For enthusiasts like myself, the Club Dance was the pinnacle of any film, with multiple numbers making it worthy of repeated viewings. Here, hippies were celebrated, drugs admired, and sultry women in ill-fitting wigs worshiped as they swiveled their hips. Convention be damned - the club represented everything I yearned for, and even now, decades after its extinction, it's where my heart remains - subversive and heathen.

Sniff the body odour, the sweat...feel the heat and embrace the rebelliousness, lurking evil, and sinful debauchery. With Stylish Batch, the greatest band of all time, providing the soundtrack, and various temptresses belting out numbers about living for the moment, the Club will forever be my inspiration, my home, and my destiny. This is an ode to the Club as depicted in Pakistani Cinema - my kind of heaven.

The Rise & Fall of the Club Song

The rise of the Night Club in Pakistani films coincided with James Bond's arrival on the international scene. Bond films' worldwide popularity particularly influenced the former colonies, India and Pakistan. Following Dr. No's success, which introduced glamour, glitz, and the obligatory Bond girls, both industries adapted the style for their audiences.

The Club (also known as Killup, Klab, Kullup) became a fixture in both cinemas. In India, Helen led the charge, with Bindu, Laxmi Chaaya, Jayshree T, Faryal, and Padma Khanna following suit. Pakistan saw Tarana, Panna, Niggo, and Amy Minwalla blazing the trail in modern Night Clubs inspired by the 007 genre. By the mid-'60s, a cabaret or Club Dance became mandatory for any film with an urban setting.

This golden era lasted until the Discotheque emerged, bringing electronic beats that overshadowed the rock and roll style of The Stylish Batch. In India, the sound that had elevated Shankar Jaikishen and Shammi Kapoor gave way to syndrums and drum machines. Young producers like Bappi Lahiri followed Giorgio Moroder's lead. Classics like "Jaan Pehchan Ho" became nostalgic relics as Bappi Beats dominated with screeching strings, synthesizers, and pounding rhythms.

By the late 1970s, the party had shifted to the flashing lights of modern Discotheques. Pakistani Disco songs featured chorus girls and Madam Noor Jehan's hits like "Disco Dildar Mera Main Hui Disco Deewani" and "Hello Madam Disco." Veterans like R.D. Burman and M. Arshad declined as Bappi Lahiri, the King of Pap, rose to prominence. His beats evolved beyond urban dance numbers to include traditional settings, as seen in the monster hit from "Himmatwala."

The 1980s marked the end of cabaret and Nightclub songs, with even the legendary Stylish Batch fading into obscurity. The Club dance number had succumbed to the relentless march of disco beats.

 

The film opened less than ten days following General Zia ul Haq's military coup in 1977. In the coming weeks, all films released prior to that date were stripped of their certification and had to re-apply for new certificates in accordance with the new regime's moral code.

2. Dil Hai Dil (Mali, 1971)

Old School Sizzler with Aalia displaying all those tantalising moves she was known for. The song by Mala smoulders while The Stylish Batch does their thing magnificently. The dancers are all snazzily fitted out, and the head bobbing and hair tossing is breathtaking. Aalia's command over the hair toss and hip sway is second to none - everything about this dance number is electrifying. Unadulterated magnificence.

3. Kadh Le (Aj Da Badmash, 1976)

Gritty, sweaty, dripping with eroticism and sleaze - a quite magnificently startling dance number oozing oomph to levels unseen. The gorgeous, tight fitting bell bottoms accentuate the dancers stunning assets and her facial expressions take this fabulous little number over the edge of sheer brilliance. A flawless masterpiece. The club itself is the stuff of dreams with a collection of the shadiest dudes in designer bell bottoms, endowed with splendid facial hair with an incredible "Badman" vibe. Note, The Stylish Batch Band plying their trade quite brilliantly. This club would be the place of choice to hang out in, with the sauciest dancers and the trendiest, most badass dudes in town. Breathtaking, sexually charged with high voltage excellence. Sultry, slutty and sublime.

 

Sexcitement off the charts

4. Koi Asli Chor (Ghairat, 1976)

Dangerous Dudes, saucy dames brilliant choreography and frenetic camera work combining to give this number a kinetic power that is off the wall. Then there is the allure of Naheed Akhtar at her best and Najma and Parveen Boby swirling and twirling delectably. The scene is drenched with atmosphere with the dutch camera angles, the crazy close ups and the diabolical dudes lending this club number with an edgy, crazy energy that crackles and fizzes to a deranged maximum. Electrifying stuff.

 

Fierce kinetic energy – dangerous dudes and hot babes

5. Pa Pa Pa Kariye Pyar We (Aj Da Badmash, 1976)

More shady "danger" hoods at the New Star Club, where they're pulling out all the stops tonight. Stylish Batch are there, some pretty intimidating natives and three hot babes in fancy dress to twitch and twirl and thrill a drooling audience. Tantalising and bewitching in unimaginable ways. The cream of the crop with the sombreros and parasols just the icing on top of a delectable cake. A Feast.

 

Mexican Magnificence, Lahori Style

6. Dance Freak Out Madness (Pindi Wal, 1976)

This is the climactic scene of one of the great Punjabi beyond belief.

 

Jaw-dropping Sexcitement

7. Dil Beqarar Mangda e Pyar (Nawabzada, 1975)

Twirling beauties light up the club with their saucy moves and their gorgeous curves while Music Director Tafo does his finest RD Burman thing to achieve an intoxicating concoction of Club excellence. Madam Noor Jehan providing the vocals only adds to the delirium.

 

The Club - Pay to Get in, Pray to Get Out!

8. Shola Sa Bharka (Jasoos, 1977)

Chakori was a force to be reckoned with in the late 70s until the arrival of Disco killed The Club. Even then, she romped on doing her thing enchantingly at Birthday celebrations and mixed-sex "get-togethers" that grew increasingly popular once the mighty club became increasingly extinct. Here is Chakori displaying all her amazing talent in a dance number that is a show-stopper that put her at the pinnacle of the dancing queens of the era. Once again, Tafo provides the entrancing score and the camera man knows exactly where to focus in on. Undeniably one of the great club dances that wasn't actually at the club but had all the qualities of a club dance and more. Bewitching is just one word that springs to mind.

 

Chakori with an outfit to kill and die for

9. Ajj Mere Dil Di Dharkan (Pindi Wal, 1976)

One of the many delights from a movie is centred around the debauched lifestyle surrounding the Club. But, are girls who dance and shake their rump to the funk all evil and unworthy or are some of them ready to turn a leaf and lead a life of wholesome dullness? Another delightful and mesmerising club romp from the excellent Pindi Wal which ranks as one of the strongest Club oriented films of them all. The cameraman again shows his mastery over the Dutch angle as well as the zoom lens and plenty of deftly edited close ups of various exciting body parts. The joys of the pre Zia era are bountiful and brilliant. Parveen Boby and Naureen feature along with The Stylish Batch.

 

The glorious Pre-Zia era

10. Tu-Tu-Tara-Tara-Tara-Tara Tu-Tu-Tara-Tara-Ra (Hirasat, 1980)

The Breathtaking gasp, enspiring moves of Chakori in her prime, along with the Ooh-inspiring dazzle of the camerawork, render thisan instant classic. That and the fact that Madam Noor Jehan is quite obviously thoroughly enjoying lending her talents to a racy, saucy number on screen. Somehow the monochrome always adds extra pizzaz to the club style number and though this one is at a villains lair, it is essentially a quintissential "saxy-taype" number to the hilt. Exquisite in every way.

 

Chakori in her element

11. Some Love One, Some Love Two (Mehdni Lagay Mere Hath, 1980)

Madam Sangeeta, then known without the Madam, was prone to casting herself as a voluptuous man magnet ever since she hit success with the highly regarded Society Girl. Her choice of outfit (Mrs Habib Fitwell's creations no doubt) was again in an elevated class that would see her stun on the catwalks of Milan and Paris. The Rainbow wig is a knockout and the matching shimmering jump suit, a stroke of genius. Her dance moves were always spot on but this time the song is a true belter by Naheed Akhtar as well. Intoxicating and surreal, enough to make Barbarella weep with envy.

 

The Wig might be deemed unlawful in today’s Islamic Republic

12. Life is a Dance (Society Girl, 1976)

An iconic number from 1976 was finally given its due when released by Finders Keepers as the title track of their album featuring Club oriented songs that had thus far been the domain of the "cheap". Life is a Dance finds Naheed Akthar in joyous form and Madam Sangeeta at her effervescent best as Julianna Wilson the reluctant hardened alcoholic Society Girl by night but a dutiful, supportive daughter by day. Her glittering, shimmering outfit should be preserved for the archives and is designer Ms Fitwell's finest hour. Parveen Boby makes her presence felt jiving quite magnificently as second fiddle to Madam S. Sensational classic club scene from the Pre-Zia glory days.

 

Glorious outfits designed by Mrs. Habib Fitwell

13. Ghut Bhar Pee Le Laal Gulabi Pani Da (Anjam, 1976)

The preamble to this fabulous club ditty and dance is the innocent and uncorrupted village belle, naive and virtuous, having her "guth" chopped off and tossed disdainfully in the garbage after which she is adorned with a stylish fringed wig and kitted out in a dress to fit in with the club's modern stylish in crowd. Vultures await their newest conquest as poor Ishrat Chaudhary is forced to sip adulteratd Coca Cola and after some bad girls whisper in her ear she is all set to join the debauched girls, swinging their hips and open hair with gay abandon. Their moral compass decimated by lust filthy thoughts of free love. The Naheed Akhtar gem bursts into action as the party crowd gets down for a night of heavy partying. Epic, vintage 70s club immorality at its finest.

 

Village simpleton corrupted by City Sleaze

14. Snake Dance in the Villains Lair (Mera Nam Raja, 1978)

This isn't strictly a club dance but qualifies for the list because of its erotic and exotic execution. It features the then fast rising pin up of Pakistani cinema, Mussarat Shaheen, also known as The Haseena of Atomic proportions. Here she weaves a web of danger with armed with a spitting cobra on her arm threatening to unleash it along with her intoxicating, venemous moves. Her clothes do justice to her muscular and curvaceous physique to perfection and her moves prove that in 1978 she would be a force to be reckoned with in times to come having burst on to the scene majestically with Dulhan Ek Raat Ki before this killer dance inspired by the James Bond flick Live and Let Die.

 

Killer Cobra Moves

15. Pyar Menoon Kar (Khatarnak, 1974)

This particular dance had the film banished from screens all over the nation. Still, when the ban was overturned the masses thronged to cinemas to render it one of the biggest box office successes in the history of Pakistani cinema as well as immortality of a dubious kind. Everything about this movie was spoken about in whispers such was its reputation. Anita is and was superstar material and cemented her status as the boldest of the crop of top dancing girls with this film forever her calling card. Deliciously subversive and pushing all the boundaries in this delectable dance. The cameraman doesn't get half the credit he deserves for being the catalyst and executor of prime A grade sleaze. The film was among dozens that were pulled from screens after the rise of hipocrisy in 1977. It never saw the light of day on a cinema screen in Pakistan in its complete glory ever again.

 

The Most Controversial of all Club Songs?

16. Golden Night (Pindi Wal, 1976)

Bearing all the hallmarks of a classic club dance. The outfit is perfection, the ill-fitting wig - sublime. The cameraman's wandering eye, brilliant. The saucy little ditty, inspired. The perfect 10.

 

Golden Night – Club Perfection

17. Pyar Tenoon Karna (Nawabzada, 1975)

Nazli was one of the great dancing girls of the 70s and 80s, excelling at the saucy, alluring dance, but quite often in a village or mujra setting. When cast as a club dancer she had no problems excelling in that department as well with her timely swishes and sashays and come hither looks. In this delightful number that finds Madam Noor Jehan in full on sultry siren mode, Nazli does complete justice to the tune and more. A quite bewitching slice of Club Dance excellence.

 

Madam Noor Jehan and Nazli - an intoxicating combination

18. O My Dear (Baghawat, 1976)

Madam Noor Jehan, in top form and a dancer whose jhatkas are riveting as are her stunning looks, resembles one of the most famous women this country has ever produced - gorgeous. She flits around merrily from the New Years Merrimakers putting more than a smile on each ones face. The outfit is also designed perfectly for the lighting to penetrate and countour her body parts perfectly revealing some fine lace undies. Its a delicious and cheerful little number even if its strictly not a club but at a New Years Party yet undeniably in the style of a Club Dance. Madam steals the show with her moans and groans that are interspersed during the dance. Most impressive and well worth its position in our top 25. One, Two, Three....I'm Free!

 

One Two Three....I'm Free!

19. Neeli Neeli Aankhen Meri (Machlay Khan, 1979)

Anita and Madam Noor Jehan deliver a delicious cocktail of excellence, with the cameraman making sure he delivers on the upskirting shots of Anita for maximum impact and according to audience expectations. Anita lives up to her reputation as the bold girl with few qualms about revealing as much flesh as possible. Excellence all around.

 

Combustible combination of Madam ji and Anita

20. Mohabat Kariye Kabhi Na Dariye (Wafadar, 1978)

Anita proved yet again that there she had no peer when it came to the provocative club number.

 

The Bold and Beautiful Anita

21. Kash Pe Kash (Dharkan, 1976)

It's not strictly a Club Dance at the club but very much a drugged-up club-style dance at a party, which is almost the same thing. Nothing quite as vile hippies in a drugged up stupor fumblind around in a dancing daze. The outfits are staggering with one man kitted out in a jacked emblazoned with profoundly subversive and horribly hedonistic words such as Make Love Not War! The number itself is a stunner by Naheed Akhtar delivered in her finest druggie drawl. A hippy party drenched with debauched, deluded brilliance. One I would love to have been invited to.

 

Make Love Not War - Perish The Thought!

22. Dil Di Guitar (Cheeta Chalbaaz, 1978)

Our girl Chakori plying her trade as only she knew how. Spellbinding moves, delicious facial expressions, and Tafo doing his RD thing supremely and providing a stupendous ditty. Checks all the marks with flying colours.

 

Chakori in Cheeta Chaalbaaz

23. Jawani Meri Bijli (Warrant, 1976)

Vigorous, energetic and full of all the right moves. The saucy Mizla shows why she was second to none when it came to the sultry club dance and here she is aided and abetted by Madam Ji in superb form. The late 70s had cameramen include various objects like lamp shades and tinsely things to enhance the club dance. Pakistani innovation at its most phenomenal. The results speak for themselves. The wigs on display are brilliant and the outfits made to measure and highlight the body beautiful.

 

Mizla the Sizzla

24. We Neray Neray Aa (Khatarnak, 1974)

This song ruffled all sorts of feathers back in the day. The opening of the song simulates the sexual act without much subtlety and then the cameraman gets to work with some serious upskirting with dancer Anita underlining her infamy in Pakistani cinema as the boldest of all club dancing beauties.

 

The Bold & Beautiful Anita

25. I Am Very Sorry, Saab ji (Warrant, 1976)

Known as the Sax Kitten for reasons that are self-evident, the bewitching Ishrat Chaudhary does her thing to dizzying perfection, kitted out in the finest Club attire imaginable. Madam Ji in excellent form singing an all time classic Saab Ji, Very Sorry...I am very sorry! No self respecting list of the Best Club dances could exclude this massive classic.

 

Saab jeeee…..very sorry, I am very sorry!

Honorary mentions:

Dil Woh Bhi Larki Ka (Naukar, 1975)

Babra Sharif throwing caution to the wind. No Club collection could be without the Bad Babra of her early career, and this gem from Naukar finds her with a zest for life as no girl should dare to dream about! Power to the bad girls, Enjveye!

 

Aaja Mere Sanam (Khaufnaak, 1975)

Anita running circles around Saira Banu's famous towel dance!

 

Flesh Feast

Iss Jhoomti Mehfil Mein (Pak Daman, 1969)

Pak Daman was a film that stood out because Sabiha played a juicy double role with one as an drunken, debauched, corruptive criminal Don. Here she is hosting a party for her colleagues barely able to keep from slurring and with Aalia swivelling her hips in a way that caused many a heart to flutter. She went on to enjoy major success in years to come, not only as a dancer but as a leading lady in Punjabi films and a few Urdu films as well.

 

Drunken Super Criminal Sabiha with sexsational Aalia

Aalia's Superb Club Ditty from 1971

This is a Club Dance of rare brilliance from the early but finest days of the artform. Everything about this dance is flawless and underlines Aalia's mastery of the Club Dance floor. Club Psychedelica at its brilliant best. The organ player and electric guitar simply superb. In years to come this sound was to be eroded then destroyed by Disco beats.

 

A showstopper by Aalia and the Band

Dilon Ke Khel Ka (Naureen, 1970)

Had this club dance been available on video, it would have been the No.1 right at the top of the list. A stunner of a song by Mala and an equally sexsatious dance by Tarana from the film Naureen. Alas, until someone shares this movie and this song in particular, we shall have to make do with faded memories and this fabulous vinyl recording from www.desimovies.biz