Tanvir Naqvi (born Syed Khursheed Ali; 16 February 1919 1 November 1972), also spelled Tanveer Naqvi, was a British Indian and later Pakistani film songs lyricist and poet.
He wrote lyrics for over 200 Lollywood and Bollywood films. He made his debut in Indian cinema with the 1941 film Swami, directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar, and later remained active in Pakistani film industry for over fifteen years. Naqvi earned recognition for writing the song "Aawaz De Kahan Hai" for the 1946 film Anmol Ghadi and "Rang Laayega Shaheedon Ka Lahoo" (Eng. "The Blood of the Martyrs Will Bear Fruit") during the 1965 India-Pakistan war to boost the morale of the nation.
He was born in 1919 in Lahore, British India (in modern-day Lahore, Pakistan). He originally belonged to a family of Persian writers from Iran and started writing poetry at the age of 15, He later married notable singer and actress Noor Jehan's older sister, Eidan Bai. His first poetry collection, Sunehre Sapne, was published by the time he was 21, in 1940.
As a film songs lyricist, he started his career around 1946 at early age, but after moving to Pakistan, he wrote lyrics for Urdu and Punjabi language films, including Pakistan's first feature film Teri Yaad. He also wrote for Salma (1960 film), Noor Jehan's first film exclusively as a playback singer.
In 1933, he went to Bombay when the film director Abdur Rashid Kardar invited him there. Prior to his debut in films, he was writing ghazals, but later wrote songs for Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi films. He is also credited for writing lyrics for Pakistan's patriotic song titled "Rang Laye Ga Shaheedon Ka Lahoo", sung by Noor Jehan. He wrote this song from one of his poems. During his career, he wrote two prominent naats such as "Shah-e-Madina Yasrab Ke Wali" and "Jo Na Hota Tera Jamal Hi". Before the split of Indian subcontinent, Naqvi was recognized one of the greatest classical writers in Punjabi poetry and literature between the 1950s and 1970s.
After partition, the Pakistan film industry didn't produce many films, and by the end of 1952, it had made only five films. Later, Khwaja Khurshid Anwar, a Pakistani filmmaker and a music director teamed up with several other people, including Tanvir Naqvi as songwriter. The team succeeded in making some films between 1956 and 1959, focused on psychological issues experienced by actors due to multiple cultural conflicts.
He died on 1 November 1972 in Lahore, Pakistan and was buried in Miani Sahib Graveyard in Lahore, Pakistan.