Last Updated:June 21, 2025, 21:04 IST

Noora penned songs like Choom Loon Honth Tere and Tumse Jo Dekhte Hi.

Dawood’s brother Noora wrote several popular Bollywood songs.

The looming shadow of the infamous gangster Dawood Ibrahim often overpowers his lesser-known siblings. Among them, the most intriguing is Noora Kaskar, a figure who straddled two worlds: organised crime and film music. Did you know that Noora wrote songs that featured Bollywood icons like Salman Khan and Rishi Kapoor?

Noora penned the song Choom Loon Honth Tere Dil Ki Yahi Khwahish Hai, sung by Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik in the Rishi Kapoor-starrer Shreemaan Aashique. He also wrote Tumse Jo Dekhte Hi by SP Balasubrahmanyam and Lata Mangeshkar for Patthar Ke Phool. The film starred Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon.

Journalist S Hussain Zaidi said in a video on his YouTube channel, “Noora was a shayarmizaaj aadmi… For Dawood, it was family first. If he ever had any differences with Iqbal or Noora, he wouldn’t let anybody know of it. The ‘tapori’ type songs in films, he’d write those. He could do anything for his brothers. Everybody else came second.”

Born into the notorious Kaskar family, Noora was deeply embedded in Mumbai’s underworld during the 1980s and ’90s. Reports suggest he played an instrumental role in the notorious “hafta vasooli” (extortion) rackets, allegedly overseeing collections from Bollywood figures under Dawood’s direction. 

Surprisingly, Noora also had a creative side. According to The Indian Express, he penned poetry and wrote song lyrics that made their way into Bollywood soundtracks. Further affirmation comes from IMDb trivia, which lists his contribution to the 1990 film Shreeman Aashique.

One of Noora’s most notable contributions was the iconic song Tumse Jo Dekhte Hi Pyaar Hua. As recounted in The Indian Express, lyricist Shyam Keswani revealed that Noora authored this tune, originally celebrating Mumbai’s iconic roads as part of its narrative.

Noora’s life embodied stark contradictions—a feared gangster with a poetic soul. His death in Karachi in 2009 marked the end of a life straddling criminal notoriety and cultural production. Authorities noted his poetic talents alongside his criminal past, creating a perplexing portrait of a man who “wanted to be a writer” even as he enforced underworld rule. Noora’s story unravels familiar Bollywood lore, where underworld influence on Mumbai’s film industry is widely acknowledged. Dawood Ibrahim himself has long been linked to funding and intimidating Bollywood figures.

Kashvi Raj Singh

Kashvi Raj Singh is a Sub Editor at News18. She extensively covers Bollywood, Hollywood and television. She not only keeps an eye out for interesting news angles but also often writes social commentary in long-…Read More

Kashvi Raj Singh is a Sub Editor at News18. She extensively covers Bollywood, Hollywood and television. She not only keeps an eye out for interesting news angles but also often writes social commentary in long-… Read More

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