Surendra was born on November 11, 1910 in Batla village of Punjab. He always used B.A., L.L.B. with his name and wanted to establish himself as a successful lawyer, but due to his pleasent voice everyone suggested him to become a singer and try hands at Hindi cinema. Finally, he agreed with them and came to Bombay to join Mehboob Khan's Sagar Movie Tone in 1936.
In 1936, he got his first break in Deccan Queen. Deccan Queen established him as a singing star. He released a parody of
K L Saigal's 'Baalam Aaye..' in his voice as 'Birha Ki Aag Lagi..' which became an instant hit with the film-goers. His next film Aansuon Ki Duniya went un-noticed. He sang 'Tumhi Ne Mujhko Prem Sikhaya..' with Bibbo in his next film Manmohan which became very successful soon after the release of the film, and he got recognition as a singing star of those times. With Jaagirdaar he got his first chance to sing under the baton of great music director
Anil Biswas. Anilda recognised the talent in the young man and was very much impressed by Surendra's voice and ability to sing. Anilda fortified his singing abilities. He gave further chances in Gramophone Singer, Jiwan Saathi, Alibaba, Aurat, Ghareeb, Jawani, etc.
When
Anil Biswas switched over to Bombay Talkies, Surendra sang under
Khemchand Prakash and
Gyan Dutt for about 2-3 years. Khemchand's Bharthari (1944) was among his best musical creations. Surendra sang 'Bhanwara Madhuban Me Jaa..', 'Bhiksha De De Maa..', 'Allah Naam Ras Pina Praani..' and 'Prem Bina Sab Soona..' in Bharthari. In 1946, Surendra got the opportunity of his life time, when, Mehboob who was making Anmol Ghadi, called him up and gave him the chance to work against the then singing stars Noor Jahan and Suraiyya. For Anmol Ghadi,
Naushad gave him a golden chance to sing with Noor Jahan, and Surendra lived up to all expectations. Surendra got songs like 'Aawaz De Kahan Hai..' a duet with Noor Jahan, which was a huge hit, 'Kyun Yaad Aa Rahe Hain Gujre Hue Zamaane..' and 'Ab Kaun Hai Mera..'.
Anmol Ghadi was a huge success and thus
Naushad repeated Surendra in Anokhi Ada, Elaan, etc. Surendra sang probably his best song in Gawaiya (1954) under music directly Ram Ganguly, the song was 'Teri Yaad Ka Deepak Jalta Hai Din Raat..' the other version (faster) of the song was sung by the great
Talat Mahmood. But, it was the slow version sung by Surendra who took the notice of the film-goers. Ironically, after this he almost stopped singing and confined himself to acting. He acted in many films, like, Dil Deke Dekho, Mughal-e-Aazam, Baaghi, Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne, Waqt, An Evening in Paris, Milan and Sarasatichandra, to name a few.
Surendra was married to Satya Rishi, in Lahore on 3 March 1945. Satya Rishi was the sister of author Tilak Rishi. Surendra and Satya had four children, two daughters and two sons, Sunita, Jeetendranath, Kailash and Rohini. Surendra had started an ad film company, Surendra Film Productions making commercials. The name was changed to J K Advertisers and then FAR Productions, later run by his sons Jeetendra and Kailash.
Surendra was 78 years old when he passed away in September 1987.
