Music composer S. Mohinder passed away today (6th September) in Bombay. He was 95 years old. His full name was Mohinder Singh Sarna Bakshi. When he escaped from Pakistan during the Partition riots in 1947 and came to Bombay quite by chance, he stayed in a gurudwara at Dadar, where he later also served as a raagi (musician who sings Gurbani) for a weekly fee of Rs. 10. He had started as a singer on Lahore Radio in 1945.
S. Mohinder had scored music in a number of Hindi and Punjabi films. He had won the National Award for his music in Punjabi film Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai (1969). Among the other films for which he had scored music were Sehra (his first film; 1948), Nili (1950), Sultaan-E-Alam (1956), Shirin Farhad (1956), Zameen Ke Taare (1960), Sarfarosh (1964), Professor-X (1966), Man Jeete Jag Jeet (1973) and Dahej (1981).
He moved to the USA with his siblings in 1982. He returned to Bombay after spending three decades in the US.